Giants Win ABA Florida Divisional Championship in Route over Palm Beach
The Jacksonville Giants improved to 16-1 on the season in a commanding, 143-103, win over the Palm Beach Stampede. The win awards Jacksonville as the ABA Florida Division Champions. Jacksonville landed 21 three pointers as a team and shot 49% from the three point line.
The Giants will now play next weekend in the ABA Regional Tournament. If Jacksonville wins the 4-team regional tournament next weekend, they will play in the ABA Final 8 in Baltimore, the week of April 21st. For more details on the Giants ABA Tournament schedule please check out updates on Jacksonvillegiants.com.
The game started intense, as both teams went back and forth. There was no love loss between Palm Beach and Jacksonville. Palm Beach defeated the Giants in December. However, Jacksonville rebounded winning 16 games in a row and defeating Palm Beach two times sine the December loss.
Early in the game, Palm Beach went to work. They made some explosive shots and stayed in contention with the reigning champs. Jacksonville was able to pull away in the second quarter, taking a 59-48 halftime lead. Coach Tucker made some key adjustments and Jacksonville came out in the second half with determination.
Jacksonville went on a tremendous scoring frenzy and was virtually unstoppable. Larry Dumas led Jacksonville with a team high 15 points. Dumas shot 67% from the field and landed six-three pointers. Bernard Nugent ( 22 points) and Maurice Mickens (21 points) rounded out the scoring leaders for Jacksonville. Dontay Sheppard, Miguel Paul, and Rob Hornsby also contributed with double digit scoring.
Defensively, the Giants were just as powerful. Elijah Smith and Hornsby had multiple blocks in the game. Nugent and Dumas caused multiple turnovers.
– Matt Potak