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Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
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gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, December 29, 2018
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL I Lanierlandboys
Big Red wins a thriller
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Gainesville’s Rafael Rubel shoots over Lakeview Academy’s Holden Cooper during the Lanierland tournament
semifinals on Friday in Oakwood.
Rubel scores last 10 points for Gainesville in 60-59 win
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
The Lanierland boys semifinal
matchup between Gainesville and
Lakeview Academy Friday night
was a tightly contested battle of
wills from start to finish. But when
it mattered most, no one could stop
Rafael Rubel.
The Gainesville guard scored the
last 10 points of the game for the
Red Elephants, including the game
winner that came with five seconds
left on the clock to seal Gainesville’s
60-59 win.
“He’s a tremendous one-on-one
player, and he’s a playmaker — not
just a scorer,” Gainesville coach
Chuck Graham said. “I think that
last four minutes of the fourth quar
ter, he really took it upon himself
to start attacking the basket, and it
worked in our favor.”
Rubel started his run with four
minutes left to play with a bucket
that put the Red Elephants (6-6)
up by six. A quick 4-0 run from the
Lions (8-5) brought them within two
before Rubel scored again off a pass
from Brent Kelly to keep Lakeview
Academy at bay.
The Lions had no difficulty scor
ing to stay in the game, but each
Lakeview Academy basket was met
with an answer from Rubel. The
Lions finally took a one-point lead
after guard Blake McIntyre hit on
a pair of free throws and then stole
the ensuing Gainesville in-bound
before getting fouled and making
another two shots from the charity
stripe with 23 seconds to play.
But McIntyre left too much time
on the clock for Rubel to work with,
as he drove straight to the basket
and banked a shot off the backboard
to the delight of the Gainesville stu
dent section, which stormed the
court seconds later when the final
Lakeview Academy’s Blake McIntyre lays the ball up with Gainesville’s
Julio Santana, left, and Rassie Littlejohn attempting to block during the
Lanierland semifinals on Friday in Oakwood.
buzzer went off.
With the victory, the Red Ele
phants will move on to the cham
pionship game against East Hall on
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The contest
will be a rematch of last year’s Lani
erland final.
“It’s huge for our guys,” Graham
said of the chance to play in a Lani
erland championship game. “Those
guys in there, they want to submit
their own legacy, and we’re always
telling the seniors, ‘What are you
going to leave for that next group?
.. These guys have been working
Championship
schedule
Today’s games
at West Hall
■ North Hall girls
vs. Flowery Branch, 6 p.m.
■ East Hall boys vs.
Gainesville, 7:30 p.m.
hard. I’m happy for them in the
aspect of we’re in the finals. Now
let’s continue to play.”
■ Please see BOYS, 2B
East Hall uses late third-quarter
surge to beat North Hall in semis
Vikings return to tourney
title game after loss in 2017
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
The East Hall boys domi
nated the second half on
both ends of the floor, beat
ing North Hall 73-42 in the
Lanierland semifinals Fri
day at West Hall.
With the win, the Vikings
(9-6) will be back in the
tournament championship,
after falling to Gainesville
in the 2017 champion
ship. The Vikings will face
Gainesville in the title game
at 7:30 p.m. in Oakwood.
“We’re hype,” East Hall
senior Jayvion Rucker said.
“We can’t wait. I’m going to
go home, watch the game
today. Rest. Get ready for
tomorrow. Come walk
through, and just have a
good time.”
Rucker paved the way
for East Hall’s big win, scor
ing seven of his 14 points to
finish off a 21-0 Vikings run
in the third quarter that put
the game permanently out
of reach. North Hall’s (5-10)
Josh Cook put in 13
to lead the Trojans.
To start the
game, it appeared
East Hall would
quickly run away
with things. After
Rucker won the
opening tip for the
Vikings, it only took
East Hall guard
Kylan Curry five seconds
to drive straight to the hoop
and put in the first points of
the game.
A pair of baskets from
Rucker followed by a steal
and dish to Curry for an
easy layup in transition
kept things rolling for East
Hall.
“Kylan and Jay,
they’re on a dif
ferent level right
now,” East Hall
coach Seth Thomp
son said.
Three-pointers
from Mon Prather
and Imre Earls
extended the
Viking lead to 11
points just five minutes into
the game.
But a 6-0 North Hall run
to end the opening quarter
— set off by four straight
made free throws from
Cook, got the deficit to a
manageable five points
■ Please see EAST, 2B
LANIERLAND GIRLS
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Flowery Branch’s Ashley Scott weaves past Chestatee’s
Nicole Sedwick during the Lanierland semifinals at West Hall
High in Oakwood.
Lady Falcons
cruise to win
in semifinals
Flowery Branch playing for
fourth straight championship
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.
com
The historic 2019 class for
Flowery Branch High’s girls
basketball program is now
one win away from another
benchmark for its legacy.
The reigning Hall County
champion Lady Falcons
sprinted ahead early against
No. 5 seed Chestatee, and
convincingly pulled away
for a 67-38 win Friday night
to secure a spot in Lanier
land championship for the
fifth-consecutive year.
Courtney Newton-Gon-
zalez’s squad now looks to
bring home its first-ever
four-peat for the girls pro
gram, and become just the
third girls team in Lanier-
land’s 59-year history to
accomplish that feat. The
Lady Falcons (11-3) will play
No. 3 seed North Hall for
the championship at 6 p.m.
tonight in Oakwood.
“To be in the position to
play for another Lanier
land championship, we’re
happy about it,” the fourth-
year Lady Falcons coach
Semifinal scores
Friday’s games
at West Hall
Girls
■ North Hall 83,
Gainesville 72 (OT)
■ Flowery Branch 67,
Chestatee 38
Boys
■ East Hall 73,
North Hall 42
■ Gainesville 60,
Lakeview Academy 59
said. “We have a tough,
tough team ahead of us in
North Hall .. and very well-
coached and playing well
right now. So we know the
Lanierland championship
is going to be a battle, and a
fun game.”
Flowery Branch used
a domineering combina
tion of swarming pressure
and unselfish basketball
on offense to maintain a
double-digit lead for all four
quarters. The Lady Falcons
spread the floor with a com
bined 17 assists for the con
test, three players scoring
■ Please see GIRLS, 2B
North Hall
tops Gainesville
83-72 in OT
BY SARAH WOODALL
swoodall@gainesvilletimes.
com
When asked what made
the difference in her North
Hall girls basketball team
pulling off their sec
ond Lanierland vic
tory Friday night,
two words spoken
by longtime coach
Kristi House stuck
out postgame.
The first was the
‘belief’ that never
wavered down
the stretch after
Gainesville High’s Tia Shel
ton knocked down a con
tested 3-pointer with eight
seconds left in regulation to
force overtime. The second
word was one that revealed
itself in critical
moments through
out a thrilling semi
final bout against a
tenacious opponent:
Fearless.
North Hall (11-3)
outscored Gaines
ville 17-6 in the
final four minutes
of extra time to pull
away for a 83-72 vic
tory inside West Hall High’s
gymnasium, propelling the
No. 3 seeded Lady Trojans
to their first Lanierland final
since 2013.
With the score tied 66-all
at the end of regulation,
the Lady Trojans quickly
offset a scoring layup by
Gainesville’s Tija Blackwell
by getting back-to-back bas
kets underneath by Grace
Hollifield and post player
Ansleigh Ferguson at the
start of overtime.
Minutes later, a
crowd-erupting
3-pointer from Macy
Clark near the left
corner stretched
North Hall’s lead
to seven at the 1:15
mark. The Lady
Trojans went on to
ice the game from
the free throw line, closing
out the period with a 8-of-10
clip.
“That was such a game of
runs,” House said. “It was
so up and down and it’s just
like, ‘just one more
time. We gotta go
one more time.’
couple of people
stepped up, and
their teammates
fed off of that. They
just really pulled
together.”
Despite being
limited in their shot
selection for much
of the first half, the scoring
duo of Shelton and Black-
well finished with 28 and 27
points, respectively to pace
the seventh-seeded Lady
■ Please see NORTH, 2B
Hollifield
House
