Two Hall County boys basketball programs have dominated the Lanierland tournament, winning 40 of the first 51 titles.

After tonight it will be 41 of 52.

East Hall (23 titles) and Gainesville (17) both won in the semifinals Wednesday at Johnson High to advance to the championship game of the 52nd annual Lanierland tournament at 7:30 p.m. today at Johnson.

“There’s nothing like it,” said East Hall coach Joe Dix of the storied Hall rivalry. “And they are a very good basketball team.

“It doesn’t matter that we beat them a few weeks ago (90-84), this is a different basketball team.”

Defending tournament champions East Hall defeated Flowery Branch 76-69 Thursday night to return to the title game, a few hours after Gainesville had held off North Hall 68-57.

The Trojans, who lost to the Vikings in last year’s championship, didn’t make it easy on the Red Elephants as they closed the gap in the fourth quarter.

Neither team could find a shooting rhythm in the final eight minutes.

North Hall couldn’t afford to miss shots any shots trying to climb out of a seven-point deficit, but Gainesville was able to weather the cold spell and make free throws late to hold onto the win.

“It’s a really good thing for us to build on,” said Gainesville coach Todd Cottrell. “North Hall is as good a team as there is.”

The Trojans (7-2) are especially good this season when they’re making 3-point shots, which they couldn’t do against the Red Elephants (7-4), who held North Hall to 5 of 24 shooting from beyond the arc. The Trojans and Red Elephants each shot 44 percent from inside the 3-point line.

“We were really worried about their shooting,” Cottrell said. “I’m glad they didn’t shoot well tonight.

“I was very pleased with our effort defensively.”

Not only did the Gainesville defense stifle the Trojans potent attack, the Red Elephants allowed no second chances, outrebounding North Hall 34-16.

Red Elephants forward Chase England, who finished with nine points and 12 rebounds, was key to the board domination, even while being matched against North Hall senior Imani Cross, who paced the Trojans with 13 points before fouling out with 3:24 left in the game.

“In every game there’s a battle in the paint,” England said. “(Cross) is an outstanding player.

“It took everything I had to box him out.”

England grabbed enough rebounds, including five on offense, to give the Gainesville shooters second opportunities. Shaquan Cantrell led the way with 15 points, while Deshaun Watson added 12 for the Red Elephants.

Ethan Smith scored 13 for North Hall, which will play Flowery Branch in the third place game at 4:30 p.m. today at Johnson.

Throughout much of the second and third quarters, it looked like Gainesville might make it an easy win, but North Hall scored the last five points of the quarter, including the Trojans sixth and final 3-pointer of the game by Smith to pull within seven at 55-48.

“Every time we play North Hall it’s going to be a game,” England said.

North Hall made just three shots from the floor in the fourth and Gainesville made two, leaving it up to the free throw shooters to decide the outcome.

The Red Elephants went 9 of 14 from the line in the final quarter and scored the games final seven points after the Trojans had pulled to within four at 61-57 after a traditional 3-point play by Adam Kelly.

Gainesville pulled away from a 21-17 game after one quarter, jump-started by an 11-0 run to start the second. Cantrell finished the run with an exclamation point, a slam dunk to get the crowd to its feet.

The Red Elephants defense did its part in the second, holding North Hall without a field goal until under two minutes remained in the half.

North Hall did crawl back by hitting free throws, and Preston Smith hit a 3-pointer, was fouled and made the free throw to shave its deficit down to seven.

Gainesville finished the half with a pair of 3-pointers by Watson and Kane Smith to take a 43-30 lead halfway through the semifinal game.

EAST HALL BOYS 76, FLOWERY BRANCH 69: When East Hall lost to Flowery Branch 66-64 on Dec. 17, the Vikings hadn't been able to get off to a quick start.

In the two teams’ third meeting of the year Thursday at Johnson in the Lanierland semifinals, East Hall (4-3) couldn’t have gotten out of the gate much faster, scoring 33 points in the first quarter, which enabled the Vikings to hold on late for the win.

“We talked about playing better after the loss,” Dix said. “We had a good start.

"But again we had a working lead and let it slip. If we play like that tomorrow night the finish will be a different one than we would like.”

Ahead 57-45 after three quarters, East Hall allowed Flowery Branch (3-4) to get within six points after a pair of free throws by Kanler Coker (16 points) at 67-61.

Then Brian Edwards (14 points) hit a pair of free throws and a huge 3-pointer on the next possession to give the Vikings an unassailable 72-61 advantage with just 1:16 remaining.

Dix said afterward that the 3-point shot wasn’t what he had wanted to see from Edwards, until it went in.
“It was one of those, ‘oh no, oh yes moments,’” Dix said.

J.C. Hampton paced East Hall with 24 points, and T.D. Teasley and Hayden Chapman added 10 each.

James Hodges led Flowery Branch with 20 points.

The Falcons will play North Hall at 4:30 p.m. today at Johnson in the third place game.