Emotions Ran High Against Rival Midnites!!!

Emotions Ran High Against Rival Midnites!!!
    After The Gold were informed that they had dropped from # 8 to #11 despite defeating the #2 Ranked Jacksonville Giants the weekend before they were truly motivated to defeat The Miami Midnites and move up in the rankings. You could feel the emotional charge from the tip off on Saturday, 2/21 as the starting five of Paidrick Matilus, Marquis "Starquis" Mathis, Scott "The Professor" Draugn, Sean "Batman" Scott, and Downtown Freddy Brown, started strong and built a slight lead. The Gold would then insert Jarrett Smith, Dave Noel, Maurice Veal, Jeff "The Rifleman" Remington, Dane Givner, and then continue to rotate Charlie "Cobra" Coley and Six Freeman into the game. At the end the 1st it was Gold 26- Midnites 26. The second quarter would be an up and down battle that saw the Midnites take a 62-60 lead at half time The 3rd quarter would see some excellent play by The Gold sparked by some energy from Alonzo "Stretch" Miller who contributed on offense and defense. The 3rd quarter would end with The Gold up 89-88. as The Fourth Quarter started The Gold would gain momentum started with a Charlie "Cobra" Coley dunk that brought down the house. The Gold would play tenacious defense and create a few 3D opportunities one which led to a Sean "Batman" Scott 3 pointer which under 3D Rules is worth 4 Points. This ignited a run for the Gold as they finished out the game strong with a 123-113 victory over The Midnites.
     Sunday The Gold seeked to sweep The Midnites and the tension is the gym was at a feverish pitch as both teams were poised for battle to increase their playoff seeding and have bragging rights for the season series as The Midnites were up 3-2 in the season series. The Gold would start off strong led by Sean " Batman" Scott and Downtown Freddy Brown raining down threes in the gym. Paidrick Matilus would serve as a great facilitator with crisp passes inside to Scott "The Professor" Draugn and Marquis "Starquis" Mathis. The substitution packages of  Charlie " Cobra" Coley, Jarett Smith, Six Freeman, Dane Givner, Maurice Veal coupled with other bench players Dave Noel, Jeff "The Rifleman" Remington, would have the Gold up 25 -22 at the end of the first quarter. The Gold would build on their lead playing excellent team defense and sharing the ball on offense leading to a 64-53 halftime lead. The Midnites would come out with a unique 4 guard line-up led by George Gray and Ray Taylor who would led a fierce run aided by the shooting of Tremaine Stevens. The Gold would Counter with Sean "Batman" Scott and insert Alonzo "Stretch Miller" into the game. With both teams playing at a very high pitch and getting physical the emotions began to run very high and several technical fouls were assessed. AS the 3rd quarter ended it was Gold 94 Midnites 91. The 4th quarter began with physical play on both sides and with a great deal of controversy over the amount of team fouls each team had due to technicals being assessed. Tensions began to flare but finally order was restored. The tension seemed to lite a fire under the Midnites and they began to chip away at the Gold's lead. With 53 seconds left in the game The Midnites took their first lead 112-111. The Midnites would press on the inbounds and Ray Taylor would create a 3D for the Midnites and score on a lay up worth 3 points under 3D Rules. The Gold would inbound and quickly get the ball up court and with 3 seconds left a held ball was ruled and the possession arrow favored The Gold. The Gold needed a 4 point 1/2 court shot to tie they inbounded the ball and there last shot fell short. As the final buzzer sounded it was Midnites 115 - Gold 111. The Midnites took the season series 4 games to 2 games. These two team are on a collision course to meet in The Divisional Playoffs.
      The Gold have  games at The Parkland YMCA at 7 PM on Saturday, 2/28, and Sunday at 2 PM on 2 PM. Wear Purple or Gold and get in FREE. You can also follow the Gold on Facebook at South Florida Gold- ABA.