High school basketball: Gainesville's Simmons knocks down late 3-pointer in upset of Shiloh

Feb. 10—Gainesville's Cade Simmons was knocking down more long-range shots than he missed Friday.

So with the game on the line against Shiloh, the Red Elephants' senior guard got one last shot with seconds remaining on the clock on the final night of the regular season.

With four seconds left and trailing by a point, Gainesville passed it back to Simmons behind the 3-point line and the left-hander had it go through, sending its fans into a frenzy and capping a 53-51 win.

Simmons had the hot hand from the beginning, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the early minutes to take a 6-2 lead.

However, it was the last one — his fifth 3-pointer of the game — that pulled the Red Elephants through to the upset win.

"I took the shot, knocked it down and the rest is history," said Simmons, who finished with a game-high 23 points.

With the loss, Shiloh (12-13, 8-4 Region 8-6A) will take either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed into next week's region tournament at Habersham Central.

But Gainesville (14-10, 7-5) will go into its game next week as the No. 4 seed with a huge adrenaline rush.

"From a confidence standpoint, this does wonders for us," Gainesville coach Chuck Graham said. "You always want to go into the postseason with momentum and this win does that for us."

Shiloh had one last attempt to tie or win the game. However, after a foul with two seconds remaining, a long pass to Nathan Kashama wasn't received until after the final whistle and time expired.

Emmanuel Okogie paced the Generals with a team-high 20 points, including consecutive baskets in the third quarter that made their lead swell to five points on each occasion.

Shiloh took its biggest lead with Tylis Jordan's dunk to go ahead 47-40 with 3:40 left to play in the game.

But Gainesville didn't back down.

The next trip down the court, Simmons missed on a 3-pointer and missed the shot on his own rebound. However, Keontae Flenoy was there for the rebound, drew a foul and hit both free throws.

Then with just over a minute left to play, the Red Elephants' next trip down the floor, Simmons was good on his 3-ball.

Down by 2 with less than a minute left, Gainesville's Ellis Pitts made two huge free throws on its next trip down the court to get to within one point.

That set up Simmons for his off-balanced 3-pointer he drilled from very close to Gainesville's bench.

Also in double figures, Charlie Reisman hit a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers and scored 11 points.

Pitts, who had 11 points, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers before halftime.

His second, an off-balanced attempt in the final second, knotted it at 27-27 going into halftime.

GAINESVILLE GIRLS 62, SHILOH 14: The Lady Red Elephants (21-3, 9-3) got an emotional lift from one of its most beloved seniors.

After going down with an ACL tear in January, senior Caloni Young entered in the second half and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in her final high school game.

Gainesville coach Vanessa White said that Young approached her during the week, very much wanting to get back on the floor on Senior Night.

With approval from the team trainer, Young was able to play 'in spurts' down the stretch, before her surgery that's planned on Monday.

With the win, the Lady Red Elephants will own either the No. 2 or 3 seed to the region tournament next week in Mount Airy.

Meanwhile, Shiloh falls to 8-16, 4-8 in league play.

Leading Gainesville. Young's twin sister Keidra scored 16 first-half points.

With a 50-point lead in the third quarter, White was able to get her injured senior in the game for one last time on the floor with teammates.

Zaria Williams chipped in 12 points for the Lady Red Elephants.