Basketball Recap: Dynamic Duo of Nijaun Harris and Emir Gainer Lead St. Petersburg to Victory

After losing to Lakewood the last time they met, St. Petersburg decided to demonstrate that turnabout is fair play. The St. Petersburg Green Devils came out on top against the Lakewood Spartans by a score of 76-63 on Tuesday. Given the Green Devils' advantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 145th, while the Spartans are ranked 291st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Nijaun Harris

Points

01/21/25 vs Lakewood	22
01/18/25 vs Winthrop College Prep Academy	30
01/17/25 vs Gibbs	28
01/11/25 vs Tampa Catholic	32
01/09/25 vs Osceola	29

St. Petersburg was led to victory by Emir Gainer and Nijaun Harris. Gainer went 11 for 19 en route to 32 points, while Harris posted 22 points along with five rebounds and three steals. The contest was Harris' 20th in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Julian Macon, who earned six points and nine boards.

St. Petersburg smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 11 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least nine offensive rebounds in three consecutive matchups.

St. Petersburg is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 13-9 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 71.6 points per game. As for Lakewood, they dropped their record down to 8-11 with the defeat, which was their fifth straight on the road.

St. Petersburg didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 65-57 victory against Northeast on the 22nd. Lakewood has also already played their next matchup, a 74-40 loss against Gibbs on the 24th.