The 6th ranked Jacksonville Giants concluded their weekend success with a sweep over the Daytona Beach Sharks. Jacksonville won their 15th straight game in a 149-107 route of the Sharks on Sunday evening. The Giants improve to 17-2 on the season.
Sundays game featured stellar inside play from Center Jermaine Bell and Power Forward Elijah Smith. Bell, the 2014 ABA MVP, had a double-double. Bell’s 35 points and 27 rebounds (21 defensive boards) led the team in both categories. While Bell was dominating the defensive boards and limiting the Sharks second chance scoring, Smith, a 2016 All ABA selection, also had a double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds, 10 of those rebounds coming on the offensive side, providing second chance scoring opportunities for the Giants.
Daytona Beach was competitive early in the game, as the Sharks only trailed Jacksonville 60-48 at halftime. However, the Giants outscored the Sharks 43-22 in the third quarter to regain momentum. Bell and Smith were tough on the inside, but the outside shooting started to produce more points, as the second half turned into a scoring frenzy for the Giants. Guards Ed Horton and Larry Dumas rounded out the top scorers for the Giants, Horton with 22 and Dumas adding 20, each with 4 three-pointers in the game.
Jacksonville scored 89 points in the second half to take full control of the game, keeping it out of reach for Daytona. The outside shooting continued to be successful. Jacksonville was 16 of 38 from three-point range in the game.
The Giants have four regular season games remaining until the post-season. The recent success should move the Giants up in the upcoming and highly anticipated ABA Power Rankings, which are scheduled to be released early this week.
The ABA Championship Series begins on March 29th in Baltimore. The post-season tournament will feature the top surviving eight teams and their hopes for the 2017 ABA National Title, following three weeks of play-in rounds. More playoff details will be released in the coming weeks.
