The Gainesville Hurricanes expected a hostile environment on Friday night as they traveled across town to Bud Seymour Gymnasium to play city rival Buchholz.

The Hurricanes’ defense made sure the Bobcats and the crowd were out of the game from the start.

Cornelius White scored 12 of his 19 points in a third quarter that saw Gainesville score 33 points as the Hurricanes led from the start and cruised to a 78-51 win over host Buchholz.

Gainesville (5-1) rebounded from a Tuesday night home loss to Vanguard (Ocala) and dropped Buchholz to 4-3.

The Hurricanes scored the first nine points of the game and held Buchholz to only one basket in the opening period. Gainesville led 12-2 after the opening eight minutes.

“Our last game against Vanguard I didn’t think we were mentally prepared, and it showed in our performance,” said Gainesville coach Mike Barnes. “We had a good last couple of days of practice coming into a city rivalry game. We were ready to go, and it started on defense.”

Cornelius White scored five second-quarter points and Gainesville extended the lead to 26-12 at halftime.

The third quarter was a Gainesville buzzsaw. The Hurricanes outscored Buchholz 33-14 and led 59-26 after the period. Cornelius White had three three-point plays as the Hurricanes continued to suffocate Buchholz defensively.

“Corn was able to get it going in the third quarter,” Barnes said. “He’s good at drawing contact especially when he has a size advantage. We had a good size advantage against them and it was definitely a point of emphasis coming into the game.”

The fourth quarter saw mostly backups for both teams. Twelve players played for Gainesville and all of them scored. Junior B.J. Douglas scored nine points in the final period and Cordarius White chipped in eight points.

Buchholz played without head coach Elliot Harris, who was reportedly serving a suspension due to being ejected from Tuesday’s night loss at Columbia. The Bobcats’ leading scorer was junior Jamison McTureous with 14 points.

Gainesville continued its dominance of Buchholz, winning for the 33rd time in 40 meetings. The two teams meet again on Jan. 24 at the Purple Palace.

“We are going to enjoy this one and get ready for Dunnellon tomorrow afternoon at the Tim Brinkley (at North Marion),” Barnes said. “I don’t know much about them, but we will fly by the seat of our pants and get out there and play.”