Yellow Jackets To Face Jacksonville Giants, Who Got By Music City 124-96

The Jacksonville Giants celebrate after winning their first-round game. Photo from Facebook.

by Thomas Leturgey

The Jacksonville Giants made tidy work of the Music City Jazz in the first round of the ABA Final 8 in Baltimore. The defending 5-time (7 overall) champions nearly lead from buzzer to buzzer, 124-96.

Aquan Mendenhall scored first for the Music City Jazz, but Maurice Mikens and Bernard Nugent helped get the Giants out to a 14-5 lead. In the first quarter, the Jazz fell behind, but not by too much. The Giants' run-and-gun style opened up the entire court and was just too much for their opponents. At the end of the first quarter, the Giants had a 36-20 lead.

The second half is where things went south for Head Coach Angela Culliver's crew. Mendenhall, Mickens and Miguel Paul poured on the offense. Varyan Moody and Darrell White did their best to produce, but the Giants just had too many weapons Saturday afternoon. The Giants outscored the competition 37-16 in the second quarter and had a commanding 73-36 at the conclusion of the first 24 minutes.

The offense was fast for both teams in the second half, but the Giants reaped better goal scoring rewards. Nugent and Chuck McRoy were about the contributors. McRoy's three-pointer gave the Giants am 89-41 advantage. Quan Whitley also started to get on the scoreboard. At the end of three quarters, the Giants were winning 102-58. The defending champions had an earthly 29 points in the third quarter, to the Jazz's 22.

The Music City Jazz weren't planning on traveling back home just yet. The fourth quarter saw their biggest offensive output. Mendenhall, Moody, White, Cortez Chaney, Jason Siples, Anthony Daniels and Cornelius Thomas all played with urgency in the final quarter. In fact, the team outscored the Giants 38-22 in the final 12 minutes. The game hadn't been in jeopardy since the first quarter, and the defending champions go to on to face the Steel City Yellow Jackets Friday.

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