Florida high school basketball: St. Petersburg edges Cape Coral in Class 5A-3 quarterfinal

Junior guard Emir Gainer led the way with a team-high 23 points in the playoff victory

Andy Villamarzo

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA- With Cape Coral double and sometimes even triple teaming St. Petersburg freshman Nijaun Harris, someone had to step up for the Green Devils in Wednesday night’s Class 5A, Region 3 quarterfinal. 

It would be junior guard Emir Gainer rising to the occasion for the Green Devils. 

Gainer finished the game with a team-high 23 points and led St. Petersburg to a 46-40 victory over Cape Coral at the Devil’s Den. The Green Devils will travel down to Port Charlotte to face the Pirates in a region semifinal matchup. 

“Just seeing how (Cape Coral) came out in a box and one, I had to get it and knew that was going to be the only way we could win,” Gainer said. 

From the first basket, Gainer was locked in for the Green Devils (16-11) as the junior guard knocked down the game’s opening shot, a 3-pointer. 

Cape Coral (21-5) made sure that if St. Petersburg was going to win, it wouldn’t be at the hand of Harris, who entered the game as the nation’s highest scoring freshman at 28.8 points per game. Harris finished the night with three points, well below his season average. 

Regardless, the Green Devils had to stay toe-to-toe with the Seahawks, whom at one point held the lead at multiple moments in the first half. 

Leading the way for Cape Coral was its junior dynamo, Elijah Felix, who finished the game with a team-high 15 points. 

St. Petersburg led 29-16 going into intermission, but Cape Coral surged back in the third period, cutting the lead down to single digits heading into the final period. 

Closest the Seahawks would get within was three points, but couldn’t get the game-tying basket in the final minutes. It would be Gainer coming up with clutch shots down the stretch to keep St. Petersburg alive in the Class 5A playoffs. 

“Coach (Chris Blackwell) has said all year we can start off hot but then they’ll answer back and it’s how we respond to that,” Gainer added. 

---

Follow High School On SI throughout the 2024 high school boys basketball season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school boys basketball news.

High School On SI will serve as the premier destination for high school sports fans, delivering unparalleled coverage of high school athletics nationwide through in-depth stories, recruiting coverage, rankings, highlights and much more. The launch of a dedicated high school experience expands Sports Illustrated’s reach to even more local communities as fans can now truly follow athletes from “preps to the pros” on a single platform, bringing them closer to the action than ever before. For more information, visit si.com/high-school.

Download the SBLive App

To get live updates on your phone - as well as follow your favorite teams and top games - you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App| Download Android App

-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi