Bradenton, Fla - The SCF basketball team (7-3) opened up day one of the Florida vs Georgia Thanksgiving Classic at Hal Chasey Gymnasium in success as they upset #17 South Georgia Tech (5-1) 103-98 in overtime.
"It felt good to get the win and play at home," said head coach Tom Parks. "South Georgia Tech is a really talented team and they can score a lot of points. They have some very talented players and some really good role pieces that they can fill in the gaps and can also play if one of their guys is down. It felt good knowing that it was an upset win and I thought going into it, we were the better team, despite the poll being early, but I'm glad that we beat the #17 team in the country and I thought it was nice to open the Thanksgiving Classic with a win and go eat a nice meal."
"I thought it was a game of runs and I thought we had time where we were really good and run away with it, but I watched a lot of film on South Georgia Tech where got behind in multiple games and crawled back. I thought our guys persevered and when we were down by three in overtime, I thought they battled back with big plays, rebounds and stops that really mattered. Overall, I thought we played really well as a team with a lot of guys stepping up."
Prior to SCF's game, #7 Eastern Florida State (5-2) would get upset by Albany Tech (6-0) in the opening game by a score of 61-51. After EFSC's loss, #9 Indian River State (8-1) would defeat RV Georgia Highlands (3-2) by a score of 94-82.
In the first half, the Manatees got off to a good start from an offensive runs by freshmen Ametri Moss and Cobey Harraway and strong rebounding by classmates Djordje Gobovic and Ronnail Tape. Eventually, that would give the Manatees a 54-41 lead at the end of the first half.
At the start of the second half, the Jets fought with a 11-4 run to start, forcing the Manatees to call a timeout with the score 58-52. The Manatees would then continue to push their offensive game by sophomore James 'Pop' Weathers, but the Jets started to creep up closer and would eventually tie the game at 89 a piece and send the game to overtime.
Overtime would go in the favor for the Manatees as the Jets continued to foul Weathers and send him to the free throw line in success. The final seconds would be the dagger as freshman Jacari White would draw a foul and score the final two free throws to seal the up set win for the Manatees.
In the end, six players ended up in double figures, with two having a double-double. Harraway was the offensive leader as he finished with a new season-high 27 points (11-for-16 FG, 3-for-5 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), one rebound, one assist and one steal.
Moss and Weathers would follow with 16 points each. Moss (5-for-8 FG, 1-for-2 3PT, 5-for-6 FT) added four rebounds, one assist and one steal, while Weathers (4-for-16 FG, 8-for-13 FT) had a double-double with a career-high 13 rebounds, seven assists and two steals. In fact, Weathers was three assists shy of his second career triple-double.
"Pop was our anchor, even though he says himself he struggled out on the floor," said Parks on Weathers. "Everything runs through him and he does a good job not forcing shots and really put his heart out in games where he leads the scoring route, but he did a really good job."
Gobovic would finish with his first collegiate double-double of 13 points (5-for-10 FG, 3-for-4 FT) and 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
"Djordje stepped up on the glass and made some very big plays down the stretch," said Parks on Gobovic. "He definitely showed out on the floor with his blocks and rebounds.
Sophomore Kwo Agwa would add 12 points (5-for-8 FG, 1-for-2 3PT, 1-for-2 FT) and four rebounds, while White rounded out the order with 11 points (4-for-11 FG, 1-for-6 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), five rebounds, three assists and one block.
"Jacari's defense is incredible and he knows how to hold it down," said Parks on White.
Sophomores Clarence Cummings III (seven points, five rebounds and three assists) and Christian Nieto (three points, one rebound, one steal and one assist), Tape (one point and five rebounds) and freshman Sam Faraday (one assist) also contributed in the game.
For the Jets, sophomore Marvin McGhee lead the way with 37 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Classmate Will Johnston would follow with 18 points and five assists, while sophomore Jalen Reynolds added a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds with two blocks.
Notes:
Weathers' 16 points put him at 551 in his career and needs 449 to reach the 1,000 points milestone.
Up Next:
The Manatee will start day two of the Florida vs Georgia Thanksgiving Classic as they face RV Georgia Highlands in a rematch Friday night, November 26 at 7 pm.
Before the Manatees play, #7 Eastern Florida State will play #21 South Georgia Tech at 3 pm and will be followed by Indian River State playing Albany Tech at 5 pm.
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