Marty Pallman joined Jeff Cardozo & Pat Dooley on The Tailgate (WRUF-98.1 FM & 850 AM) on Thursday, January 23, for ThePrepZone.com Sports Report presented by SunState Federal Credit Union. Here is a recap of the interview:
Boys Basketball
The Santa Fe Raiders are red-hot, winners of six of their last seven after a 63-48 win at the Purple Palace over Gainesville on Tuesday night. 6-foot-9 junior Ernest Ross, who has an offer from UF among others, scored 32 points and had six blocks as Santa Fe went on a 20-8 run in the second quarter to take the lead for good. Santa Fe is now 11-8 behind Ross, who scored 22 points in the second half. The Raiders have also won eight out of their last 10 with the only losses coming to Eastside and Orlando Evans at the Hitchcocks Challenge in that span. Santa Fe travels to North Marion on Saturday.
While Santa Fe is trending up, Gainesville is trending downward. The loss to Santa Fe was the third in a row for the Hurricanes, who played the game without leading scorer Daryus Boyd and another starter, Alex McCrary. Gainesville also dropped games to rival Eastside and Palatka last week, and are now 10-8 after five losses in six games. The Hurricanes are back in action on Friday against Tallahassee Leon.
More boys basketball
Speaking of Eastside, the Rams had won five in a row and were 10-5 after the 55-52 win over GHS last Friday night at Santa Fe College. Eastside led from the start, but had to hold on at the end as Gainesville had a final three-point attempt to tie the game come up short. Eastside dropped two games this week however, 61-56 to Ocoee Central Florida Christian Academy at the MLK Classic at Hawthorne, and then 57-54 at home Tuesday night to North Marion. In the North Marion game, the Rams trailed 32-10 at halftime but senior KJ Bradley scored 24 points in the second half to nearly lead Eastside all the way back to the win.
Eastside travels to Newberry on Friday night and host Hawthorne on Saturday night in game you can watch live on The Prep Zone beginning at 7:15 PM. Hawthorne continues to sport the best record in the area at 17-2 after a 56-28 romp over Bronson on Tuesday. The Hornets had seen a 15-game winning streak end on Monday with a 47-46 loss in the MLK Classic to Jacksonville North Florida Educational Institute.
Girls Basketball
Girls basketball season continues to wind down the regular season as district tournaments start in 10 days. Defending 1A state champion Trenton blasted Branford 72-40 on Tuesday to improve to 17-3. Junior Samari McHenry had a double-double with 19 points and 18 rebounds for the Tigers. Trenton who is ranked 6th in 1A, travels to #3 Wildwood tonight before hosting 15-4 Oak Hall on Friday. Hawthorne, ranked 5th in 1A, improved to 21-1 after blasting Bronson 52-13 Tuesday night.
Hawthorne hosts North Marion on Friday before a big game against P.K. Yonge next Friday. The Blue Wave improved to 14-7 last night with their fifth straight win, 58-16 at Eastside. P.K. Yonge travels to 8-10 Gainesville tonight.
Soccer regular season coming to an end
The Gainesville girls soccer team picked up two wins this week, 5-0 over North Marion last night and 3-0 at Oak Hall on Tuesday. The Santa Fe girls improved to 10-7 with a 3-2 home win over Columbia on Tuesday. Girls soccer district tournaments get underway next week. In boys soccer, Keystone Heights senior Colby Townsend scored two goals as Keystone Heights pulled away for a 6-1 win over Clay on Monday. The Indians scored five goals in the second half and improve to 14-5-2 as they host Palatka tonight.
**Tune in to our weekly radio interviews talking high school sports on ThePrepZone.com Sports Report presented by SunState Federal Credit Union on WRUF-98.1 FM & 850 AM in Gainesville every Thursday at 4 p.m. on “The Tailgate” with Jeff Cardozo & Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley.**
Find out what’s going on daily in high school sports with ThePrepZone.com Sports Report Presented by SunState Federal Credit Union. The 1-minute high school sports vignette is produced by Mike Ridaught and airs ‘live’ every weekday morning between 7:50-7:55 a.m. on “I am Country 106.9 FM” in Gainesville. The reports are archived for 30 days here.
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