Sunday afternoon the Jacksonville Giants playing at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida (McArthur Center), became the 2012 ABA Champions when they defeated the South Carolina Warriors for the second time (best of 3-game series) 101-91. Friday the Giants defeated the Warriors in a thrilling overtime win 106-101.
The first quarter saw both teams start out slow and both teams committed numerous turnovers, thus the low first quarter score, Jacksonville led 19-16.
Both teams settled into their regular patterns in the second quarter and South Carolina led 49-43. Leading scorer for the Giants at halftime, seven foot center Jermaine Bell with 14 points. Leading scorer for the Warriors was 6-10 center Marquise Gainous with 17 points.
Shooting percentages for the first half: FG% for Jacksonville 47.5%. South Carolina shot 38.1%.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, South Carolina led 72-69. Jacksonville finished the 4th quarter strong and won the game, 100-91. FG% for the game: Giants shot 47.6%. Warriors shot 34.1%. Jacksonville made 5-17 from the three point line and South Carolina made 7-29.
The most valuable player of the tournament was Bell who finished the game with 29 points, 9 rebounds and numerous blocked shots. Sherod Harris scored 15 points and Currye Todd scored 10 points. Matt Fields grabbed 11 rebounds and Lamar Sanders had 10 rebounds.
Leading scorer for South Carolina was Gainous with 28 points. Tony White, Jr. scored 23 points. Joe Harris was the leading rebounder in the game with 12.
After the game, Jacksonville Giants head Coach, Kevin Waters talked about the win on the video.
