It definitely wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the result was exactly what the Gainesville Hurricanes wanted on Saturday night.
Junior Craig Thomas was the only Hurricanes player in double figures with 15 points, and Gainesville used a suffocating defense and just enough offense to edge Lakewood (St. Petersburg), 37-30, in the Eastside Invitational at the Herman “Pop” Williams Gymnasium.
The point total was a season low for the Hurricanes, but they held the Spartans to their lowest point total of the season as well.
Gainesville led 11-6 at the end of the opening quarter, and 16-14 at the half. Senior Cornelius White scored six of his eight points in the first half, with Thomas adding five points.
“He [Thomas] deserves it, he’s been playing pretty well of late,” Gainesville coach Mike Barnes said. “I think he had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and he was just a real good guy on the glass and we were able to get some shots to fall in the paint.”
Thomas hit the only two three-points of the game for Gainesville (11-5) and scored six points in the third quarter as the Hurricanes extended their lead to 29-24 going to the final period.
Gainesville kept steadily adding on the fourth quarter, holding Lakewood (7-5) to only six points.
“I thought we were getting good looks and they just weren’t falling tonight,” Barnes said. “We were able to kind of find a groove there at the end of the third quarter going into the fourth quarter and we did just enough offensively to get the win.”
Last weekend, the Hurricanes went 2-2 in a tournament in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Barnes says it was a fantastic experience for his team.
“Some of the guys got a chance to fly on a plane for the first time,” Barnes said. “The town is only seven thousand people but the gym is immaculate just like all the other gyms in Indiana.”
In an earlier game on Saturday, Hawthorne rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to stay unbeaten by edging Mainland (Daytona Beach), 55-54.
The Hornets (4-0) trailed Mainland 32-22 at halftime. But Hawthorne picked it up in the third quarter, outscoring the Bucs (7-6) 17-10 to cut the deficit to three going into the final period.
Hawthorne took its first lead of the game with about five minutes left and went back and forth with Mainland. The Bucs missed two free throws with five seconds left that could have put them ahead.
Senior Chasion Wilson led three Hornets in double figures with 15 points, and senior Dacarion Debose added 12 points with senior Leland Johnson chipping in 10.
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday night as Hawthorne hosts Gainesville.