"We have been working hard on defense and trying to execute a lot better," Gainesville coach Jerry Davis said. "We wanted to play some defense that was more solid and force the tempo up a little bit."
Gainesville jumped out to an early 5-0 lead via a 3-pointer by George Manomano and layup by Juwan Jeffries.
A steal, layup and foul plus the made free throw for Manomano and a pull-up jumper by Martin Estes extended Gainesville’s lead to 9-0.
Lumpkin County’s Shawn Chapman stopped the scoring drought for the Indians with a layup but it didn’t do much for Lumpkin County’s momentum so much as for Gainesville’s momentum.
Following the Indians first basket, the Red Elephants went on another run, this time 11-0, capped by Brock Boleman finding a streaking Ke’Odric Sadler for an easy layup.
The first quarter ended with Gainesville up 18 and the Indians having only scored one basket.
Lumpkin County got its second field goal of the game, and fourth point, thanks to another Chapman bank shot at the beginning of the second quarter but it, once again, served only to invigorate Big Red.
Despite the Indians having their best offensive quarter, they scored nine points, Gainesville continued to dominate in the second period and went into halftime with a 26-point lead.
"I thought overall we had a good performance," Davis said. "Most of what we got offensively was generated by our defense."
The rout would continue in the second half as Gainesville extended its lead to 34 by the end of the third while holding Lumpkin County to only six third quarter points.
The Red Elephants got their worst offensive output in the final period when they hit for 10 points. However, it didn’t matter much by then.
George Manomano was the lone double-digit scorer for Gainesville with 10 points. Allen Dockery had nine for the Red Elephants and Estes added eight.
The Indians were led by Chapman who finished the game with 10 points.
"Overall our intensity was good," Davis said. "This is a hard-working group of young men."
Gainesville next plays at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Buford while Lumpkin County returns to action Dec. 27 when it plays West Forsyth at 1:30 p.m. in the Forsyth Central Christmas Tournament.