The Sonic Drive-In Player-of-the-Game for Friday, February 1, is J’len Wilson of the Gainesville boys’ basketball team.
Wilson, a senior, scored a team-high 19 points to lead four Hurricanes in double figures as Gainesville completed a season sweep of city rival and host Buchholz (Gainesville) with a 68-55 win at Bud Seymour Gymnasium on Friday night.
The Hurricanes got off to a slow start, trailing 12-9 after the opening period as Cam Tener knocked down three three-pointers for the Bobcats.
But Gainesville got it going in the second period, with eight Hurricanes players scoring in the first half as Gainesville took a 24-19 lead into the halftime break.
Buchholz cut the Hurricanes lead to four on a couple of occasions in the third period, but Wilson got it going in the third quarter with back-to-back three-point plays, and GHS outscored Buchholz, 22-14, in the quarter to take a 46-33 lead in the the final eight minutes.
Gainesville was excellent at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, hitting 13-of-16 from the charity stripe as the Hurricanes extended the lead to as many as 18 points at 60-42 in the final period.
Wilson was 7-of-8 from the line in the final period and 11-of-12 for the game. He has made 29-of-33 from the line in the last two games after going 18-21 from the charity stripe in a 64-60 win over District 4-7A rival Columbia (Lake City) on Tuesday.
Freshman Daryus Boyd added 12 points, and senior Desmond Ridgeway and junior Sean Childers chipped in 10 points apiece for the Hurricanes, who have won nine in a row and 23 of the last 26 meetings with Buchholz.
The Bobcats (9-14) did hit ten three-pointers in the game but couldn’t much more going offensively. Junior Hamza Nawaz came off the bench to lead Buchholz with 21 points, and Tener was also in double figures with 19 points, including eight threes.
Buchholz will be back in action on Friday night in another city rivalry game at Eastside (Gainesville).
Gainesville has won eight of nine games and is now 14-9 overall. The Hurricanes already wrapped up the #1 seed in District 4-7A with the win at home against Columbia earlier this week, and the ‘Canes will be back in action this Tuesday in another city rivalry game at P.K. Yonge (Gainesville).
You can watch live and archived streaming video of the GHS at P.K. Yonge game here. The game will also be broadcast on The GOAT FM (92.1 FM Gainesville & 900 AM Ocala) with the pregame show at 7 p.m.
Every game The Prep Zone will recognize a Player-of-the-Game. The recipient receives a $10 gift certificate courtesy of Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville & Ocala.
