Basketball Recap: St. Petersburg Falls Despite Big Games from Emir Gainer and Nijaun Harris

After flying high against Pinellas Park last Wednesday, St. Petersburg came back down to earth. The St. Petersburg Green Devils fell 76-67 to the Gibbs Gladiators on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Green Devils can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 148th, while the Gladiators are ranked ninth).

Nijaun Harris

Points

01/17/25 vs Gibbs	28
01/11/25 vs Tampa Catholic	32
01/09/25 vs Osceola	29
01/07/25 @ Hollins	15
01/04/25 vs Gateway Charter	35

St. Petersburg's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Nijaun Harris, who went 9 for 18 on his way to 28 points and six rebounds, and Emir Gainer, who posted 20 points. The game was Harris' 18th in a row with at least ten points. Trenton Hines was another key player, putting up four points and five steals.

Gibbs' win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jacob Daniels, who went 8 of 15 en route to 25 points and six assists. Daniels continues to improve, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Bobby Crawford, who went 6 for 10 on his way to 16 points and five boards.

St. Petersburg's loss dropped their record down to 11-9. As for Gibbs, the win (which was their eighth in a row) raised their record to 15-4.

St. Petersburg didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 60-44 victory against Winthrop College Prep Academy on the 18th. Gibbs has also already played their next contest, a 67-61 win against Westminster Academy on the 18th.