| Date/Time: |
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| Location: |
Cartersville
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| Score: |
96-91
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| Winner: |
ServPro-1 (8-3) |
ServPro had a fight on their hands all night, before a couple of breaks allowed the game to be stolen away in the waning moments. ServPro-1 established early control with Shan Finley scoring buckets from the perimeter and Victor Saxton ruling the middle against the smaller Celtics lineup. ServPro-1 worked out to a nine point lead mid-way through the half, but the Celtics heated up. Mike Reynolds made several nice penetration moves for scores, then he and Mikaiel Carter combined for five threes to gradually bring the Celts to within 52-48 by the half. Again, ServPro-1 moved back out on the Celtics to start the second half, on several Jermaine Spivey buckets and freethrows. But again, the Celtics battled back on perimeter shooting and inside buckets by Lance Tippett. On a Carter bomb, the Celtics took over the lead at 82-78. Shan Finley nailed a three for ServPro and it was clear this game was going down to the wire. The Celtics miscued on consecutive possessions and ServPro pushed back ahead at 85-84 on a Spivey drive across the lane, then by three on another
Spivey bucket in the lane. Carter then re-knotted the score on a long three from the top of the key with 1:30 left. Spivey countered again with another penetration move, this time drawing the "and-1," putting ServPro back up by three. Strangely, Servpro fouled on the inbounds and Tippett hit both shots at the line to cut it back to 90-89. Mike Paige was fouled and hit both shots to give ServPro a three point cushion with 40 seconds left, then after Tippett missed a three in the corner, Saxton powered up for a basket inside and it seemed like the Celtics were done. But, Dexter Shaw answered with a two, cutting the score to 94-91 with 23 seconds remaining. Paige was fouled again, but missed the front end of the one and one. Tippett rebounded for the Celtics, who ran the clock down to seven seconds before giving the ball to Carter off a screen. Carter dribbled to the left, launching a three point attempt to tie with 2 seconds on the clock. The shot rimmed in and out and Rodney Stallings grabbed the rebound for ServPro, drawing a foul immediately. Stallings iced the game by calmly sinking both attempts with only 1.3 on the clock. Tippett and Reynolds both had 23 for the Celtics, while Chris Morgan hit 19 and Carter 18. For ServPro-1, Finley downed 25 of his 30 in the first half, while Saxton and Spivey both had 21 and Cameron Fitch 12. In Saturday's Final Four matchups, ServPro-1 will face the SEBL South Division's #1 seed, a tough D.O.T.S team. Tip off is set for 8:00pm. |
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| ServPro-1 saw their season come to a surprising close. ServPro's only two losses came while Jermaine Spivey was out with a strained calf muscle. Against DOTS, Spivey was held to only seven, and ServPro-1 sputtered. |
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