“I think it'd be really easy for people to look at Georgia Highland's record and not really dig into who they played,” said head coach Tom Parks. “Talking to JJ (Merritt), who is a good friend of mine, he said last year, their strength in schedule was weak down the stretch and wanted to play a tougher schedule, so I don't think people realize how good Georgia Highlands is. They have seven players that have played NCAA Division I basketball, so it definitely feels good to beat a team twice. We knew it was going to be a hard win based on the fact that they controlled 36 of the 40 minutes throughout the game last time and we made a push at the end to win the game, so to be able to be on the winning side is unbelievable, but it was also nerve racking, so it was fun to come out on top.”
"It was an up-and-down game," said sophomore James 'Pop' Weathers. "We started off slow being down 14 to 2 in the first half and we have started slow plenty of times, but we knew that we can bounce back from it and come back strong and that's what we did today."
"It feels good," said freshman Ametri Moss. "Georgia Highlands is a good team and we just started off slow and had to pick up the pace and intensity in the second half with our defense became a big part of the win at the end and it all came together as a team."
"It is great to be 2-0 to start the Thanksgiving Classic," said sophomore Clarence Cummings III. "Today's game was kind of rough and we almost blew it, but we kept fighting as a team and it got us this win."
"We beat once at their place and we knew they were going to come at us," said freshman Ronnail Tape. "We knew they were coming in on a three-game losing streak. They were off to a fast start and we were down 14-4. It was the same like the game at their place, so we kind of expected it as the game went and we had to bring ourselves back to match up against them. Overall, it was a great game for both teams as we both fought hard, but it was us that came out on top to get the win."
At the second half, the Manatees would once again get off to a slow start and their chances of getting a lead started to dwindle, but the 4th Herd continued to fight and eventually took a 10-point lead for the next seven minutes before the Chargers started to come back and cut the deficit to single digits.
With less than one minute left, the Chargers inbounded the ball and were on the path of scoring a third straight bucket, but Tape would take a charge that would be the key play to give the Manatees a chance to keep their lead.
"Although there was some traffic where I couldn't see what was happening and seeing Ronnail take the charge and get use to it and get up from it shows how hard he worked on taking charges," said Parks on Tape taking the game-winning charge.
After freshman Jacari White would hit the final two free throws, the Chargers would miss their final opportunity to tie the game to 75 apiece as the Manatees would seal the deal for the win and sweep over the Chargers.
"I get confused a lot because the depth of our team is better than what we had before," said Parks on the team. "We got guys that can come in off the bench and lead us in scoring. Pop (Weathers) and Cobey (Harraway) have had some big scoring games and Meech (Moss) has had games where he scored between 15 to 18 points and Clarence (Cummungs III), Jacari (White) and Djordje (Gobovic) have had some good scoring games. Kwo (Agwa) and Von (Bell) has had some of those games too, so it's kind of fun from an offensive standpoint. You have to guard every single guy we have on the floor and they all have played with a lot of confidence, which is fun to watch. I obviously have a ton of belief in everyone on our roster, but it's nice to see them really start to be like 'I'm a very good basketball player with the demeanor as I am and I'm going to play with confidence, free and make plays', so I thought the last two days, we had a chip on our shoulder and we kind of came out with that confidence despite the slow start today, but I feel like overall we weren't rattled and said to ourselves that we just need to relax and settle in for a bit."
It felt good to get the win," said Weathers on the game. "I have a lot of respect for them. They have a lot of good players that don't mess around, so it felt to get two wins off of them and build from it as a confidence booster."
Four players scored in double figures. Weathers would lead the way with 18 points (8-for-12 FG, 1-for-2 FT), four rebounds, six assists and one steal.
“I knew I had to come back from trapping the ball and play different,” said Weathers on his game. “I was passing the ball more and being more smarter with it and the team did as well and we just formed it together.”
White would follow with 16 points (6-for-14 FG, 2-for-10 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), three rebounds, two assists and one steal, while Moss added 15 points (5-for-11 FG, 1-for-3 3PT, 4-for-6 FT), six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
"I felt like I started off slow and I had to pick it up in the second half," said Moss on his game. "I felt like my team was there for me and picked me up and I knew I had to be there for them to get this win."
Cummings III would round out the order with his second double-double of 11 points (4-for-8 FG, 2-for-3 3PT, 1-for-2 FT) and 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals.
“It was a solid game for me,” said Cummings III on his game. "It should have been a full game instead of it being one half or one-sided, but it was a solid game overall."
Tape would finish with five points (2-for-2 FG, 1-for-1 FT) and five rebounds.
"I just tried to do what I needed to do," said Tape on his game. "Last time, we had a ton of rebounds on us and I wanted to make sure that I get plenty of the rebounds to help us win this close of a game."
"When we recruited Ronnail, Nav (Gill) told me about it and when he showed me his highlights from his senior year of high school, the first minute is him catching lobs and dunking. The next minute is literally him taking charges," said Parks on Tape. "Most people don't put taking charges on their highlight tapes and I was sold on him two minutes into his highlight tape and was like 'ok, he took 15 charges and I got to get him'. It's great to have talented guys that can do things like score and rebound, but when you have someone being able to sacrifice their own body for the team is unbelievable."
"I don't think people realize how good Ronnail is. He has been out with a hamstring injury for the majority of the preseason and the tough part about him is he make his money out of playing hard and out-competing people while questioning his hamstring up until a week and a half ago and even when he was practicing, he would be very reserved to push off of it and jump. Now he's at the point where he feels good to play through it and be use to what he does, so it was nice to see him do that."
Sophomore Kwo Agwa (three points, three rebounds and one block) and freshmen Cobey Harraway (four points, five rebounds, two assists and one block), Djordje Gobovic (three points, two rebounds, two blocks and one steal) and Sam Faraday (one rebound) also contributed in the game.
Sophomore TJ Porter lead the Chargers with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds, while classmate Jayvis Harvey followed with 17 points and six rebounds. Porter and Harvey were the only two Chargers that scored in double figures.
Notes:
Prior to SCF playing, #7 Eastern Florida State (6-2) defeated #17 South Georgia Tech (6-2) 90-63. Following EFSC’s win, #9 Indian River State (9-1) would defeat Albany Tech (6-1) 85-77.
With his 18 points, Weathers moves to 569 in career and needs 431 to reach 1,000 career points.
Up Next:
The Manatees will wrap up the Florida vs Georgia Thanksgiving Classic as they face Albany Tech Saturday evening at 6 pm.
Before the SCF vs Albany Tech game, #9 Indian River State will play #17 South Georgia Tech at 2 pm and will be followed by #7 Eastern Florida State playing RV Georgia Highlands at 4 pm.
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