#17 Chipola takes out #8 Northwest Florida for 10th straight win at The Milt

MARIANNA, Fla. – Over the last three seasons when Chipola and Northwest Florida met in men's basketball it would determine who would be in first place in the Panhandle Conference. The last time the two rivals met, it was the FCSAA/Region Championship Game.

This season's version of the Indians and the Raiders found themselves in unfamiliar territory on Saturday in their first of three regular season meetings. After losses to Pensacola State, both teams were fighting to stay above .500 in the conference standings and hold on to second place in the Panhandle.

With eight minutes left in the game, Matthew Webster scored two points in the paint to put Chipola up 50-48, the final score in the last meeting between the two teams. Webster's field goal would be the start of a 13-0 run that would propel #17 Chipola (17-4; 2-1) to a 67-57 win over the #8 Raiders.

Back and forth first half

After watching the Lady Indians dominate the final minutes of their game, Coach Donnie Tyndall's build on the excitement in The Milt to race out to a 9-2 lead in less than four minutes forcing Raiders head coach Steve Demeo to call an early timeout.

Although the Raiders' offense would pick up after the timeout, they could not stop Chipola from scoring. With 11:30 remaining in the half, Chipola's high-scorer of the night, Grace Aluma scored his sixth point of the game to give the Indians a 21-15 lead right before the under twelve media timeout.

The stoppage in play came at the right moment for the Raiders because it was not until after the under eight media timeout that Chipola would score again. Meanwhile Northwest Florida used a 10-0 run to take a 25-21 lead.

Aluma scored with 6:55 left before the half ending a nearly five-minute drought by the Indians. Aluma was fouled on the shot and completed the three-point play at the free throw line to pull Chipola within one.

The remainder of the half saw the teams give and take the lead two separate times. The Indians made the last two field goals of the half to take a 33-30 lead into the locker room. Aluma put the Indians up with 2:17 left before the break and neither team would score the rest of the half.

Not in our house

With their nine-game home win streak on the line, the Indians had to hold off a charged-up Raiders team that came out of the locker room poised to exit The Milt as they had done on their last trip to Marianna a season ago.

The Raiders scored the first four points of the second half to take the lead. As was the case just before halftime, the teams swapped traded leads four different times until Trent Lincoln's jumper from the elbow with just under seventeen minutes put Chipola on top, 40-39. Although the Raiders would tie the score a couple of times over the next seven minutes, they never took the lead again after Lincoln's bucket.

After Northwest Florida tied the game at 48-48 with 10:05 left in the game, Chipola shut down the Raiders for nearly eight minutes. The Indians went on a 13-0 run during that time to take control of the game.

Chipola held its largest lead of 15 following a pair of free throws from Grace Aluma that made the score 65-50 with just over a minute left to play. Aluma's 7-for-7 performance at the line lifted him to a career-high 15 points.

The Raiders closed out the game with a 7-2 run but was not able to avoid the double-digit loss as Chipola took the 67-57 win and held on to second place in the Panhandle Conference.

Up Next

With the Chipola-Tallahassee game that was originally scheduled for last Wednesday moved to the end of the season due to the record snowfall that blanketed much of north Florida, the Indians took sole possession of second place in the conference standings.

Chipola will head to Panama City on Wednesday to take on the Commodores, who won 76-66 over the league's leader, Pensacola State. Tip from the Billy Harrrison Fieldhouse in Panama City will follow the women's game at approximately 7:30.

Game Notes

• Chipola improved its home record this season to 11-1 with the win over the Raiders. Chipola has now won ten straight at the Milton H. Johnson Center. In five seasons under Coach Tyndall, Chipola is 73-4 at The Milt.
• With Pensacola's loss to Gulf Coast, Chipola is tied with the Pirates in the loss column. Since Pensacola had a bye earlier in the week, they were not affected by the weather conditions to complete their first round of the conference schedule with a 3-1 record. The other teams only played three with Chipola holding a 2-1 record and the other three teams are tied at 1-2. The games that were postponed will be played on Monday, March 3.
• Although the Indians have struggled at the free throw line in recent games, Chipola was 14-of-17 on Saturday night from the charity stripe.