Friday, 7 p.m. – High School Basketball (Boys)
Gainesville at Eastside (Gainesville) – at Santa Fe College
Join Mike Ridaught (Play-by-play) and Marco Martinez (Color) for this city showdown. Eastside, which won the first meeting, has a chance to win the mythical city title with a sweep of the Hurricanes.
RADIO: 92.1 FM & 1230 AM in Gainesville and 100.1 FM & 900 AM in Ocala
AUDIO (free): Click here to listen
VIDEO (paid subscription via the NFHS Network): Click here to watch
[…] It’s been a great season so far for Pop Williams and the Rams. They kind of grinded out a defensive win at Buchholz on Tuesday night. Trent Whittemore got hurt in the fourth quarter for Buchholz, which had a double-digit lead against the Rams in the 3rd. Anthony Richardson helped bring Eastside back with some big 3s. He finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Eastside won the game, 39-35, for their 7th straight win. Last Friday night, they beat Dunnellon to earn a 1st-place tie in their district, finishing 7-1 in 6A-District 6. Unfortunately, they lost the coin toss and will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s district tournament. They are 20-4 overall and having a really nice season. They’ve beaten all the city teams this year – Buchholz twice, St. Francis Catholic twice, P.K. Yonge, and they upset Gainesville by 20 in the first meeting. Now, Gainesville is 19-5 so you might ask yourself why would that be considered an upset. Well, at the time, Eastside was without two offensive starters. Anthony Wright, who is lost for the season with an ACL, and James Pope, who actually has returned since from his injury. But that night, Eastside came out on fire. They led 22-10 at the end of the first quarter. Senior Jimmy Johnson finished with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, senior Noah Richardson had 16, 10 from the free throw line, and sophomore Anthony Richardson had 14 as Eastside snapped a 6-game losing streak to GHS. It will take another big effort to beat the Hurricanes. GHS has won nine of its last 10 and hasn’t loss since that game, winning five in a row. Gainesville is the No. 1 seed in next week’s 7A-District 4 tournament. They are ranked 3rd in the state in Class 7A, according to MaxPreps. Eastside is ranked 6th in the state in Class 6A. The rivalry is back on after GHS had pretty much dominated it the past five years, and I expect a 4th-quarter game tomorrow night at 7:30, and a packed house at Santa Fe College. We’ll have audio and video coverage of this one. […]