Eastside’s Second Half Effort comes up short against Gainesville

By: Isabella Mascioli and Dylan Pierce

The Eastside Rams delivered a close game Thursday night. After a long-fought battle, the team lost their away non-conference game against Gainesville High School by a score of 53-37. However, the game was much closer than the score discloses.

Season Battles

The Eastside boy’s basketball team has had a (9-14) season. Despite their losses, the team has continued to fight, calling it close in several games. At this point in the season, the team has held a 45.6- point average per game with senior Shelton Hall averaging 9.5 points per game.

Rocky Start

The shots were not falling early as Eastside found themselves in a 23-8 hole at the end of the first quarter. Eastside could not seem to contain Theo Stephens, who scored Gainesville’s first 10 points of the match.

Guard play from Shelton Hall and Bryan Hayes started the comeback for the Rams, as Eastside started the quarter with a 12-0 run. At the half, the Rams fought their way back to a 33-26 deficit.

Second Half Efforts

Eastside continued to try and claw their way back. The Rams seem to thrive by fastbreak opportunities and mismatches in the paint. They seemed to be on the comeback as they shrunk the Hurricanes’ lead to a score of 40-37.

Their efforts could not continue as Gainesville’s size was too dominant in the paint. The Rams tried many different rotations and matchups, but the Hurricanes’ Center Josh Hayes was too much to handle. Gainesville would outlast Eastside as the final score would be 53-37.

Reflecting

Shelton Hall was visually disappointed as the Rams fell to Gainesville in a close battle, which failed to represent the persistence of his team.

“ We just fought hard, we couldn’t pull it through though,” said Hall. He said that the team needed to rebound more and “bring more energy.”