TCC men fall to Chipola in heartbreaker

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (January 22, 2013) - Tallahassee Community College's men's basketball team lost another hard fought game on Tuesday evening, falling to NJCAA No. 7/FCSAA No. 4 Chipola College, 77-74, in Panhandle Conference men's basketball action.

After Cinmeon Bowers hit one of two from the free throw line to give Chipola a three-point lead with 13 seconds remaining, Tallahassee had a chance to force overtime but Jon Hood, who had already connected on six three-pointers, was off the mark on his attempt for number seven. Chipola turned the ball over on the rebound, however, thus giving Tallahassee one last opportunity to tie. Inbounding the ball underneath its own basket with :00.2 left, the Eagles were unable to get off a shot.

Tallahassee (12-9) is now 0-5 in PC play for the first time in school history while Chipola (20-2, 3-2) assured itself of no worse than a share of second place in the PC standings, pending Wednesday's outcome between Northwest Florida State College and Gulf Coast State College.

Playing in front of a boisterous home crowd, the Eagles came out strong and took a 15-4 lead seven minutes into the game. Chipola took its first lead of the game at the 7:51 mark of the first half. Torian Graham's three-pointer capped a 16-4 run to give the Indians a 20-19 advantage.

Tallahassee scored eight unanswered points and led up until the final seconds of the half. Graham's basket capped a 9-2 run to close the opening 20 minutes for Chipola, who led 35-34 at the intermission.

Tallahassee regained the momentum in the opening minutes of the second half, jumping out to a seven-point lead on two different occasions, but a 50-43 lead disappeared in just over two minutes.

Chipola's Demetrious Floyd hit consecutive three-pointers and Carlos Morris followed with a pair of his own to give the Indians a 55-52 lead with 11:41 left in the game.

Curtis Diamond answered with a three-pointer to force a deadlock at 55-all. The game was later tied at 57-all, 60-all and 65-all before Morris gave Chipola the lead for good on a basket with 5:37 left.

Floyd led Chipola with 19 points while Morris finished with 12. Graham added 15 and Bowers had a double-double – 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Hood led all scorers with 20 points for Tallahassee. C.J. Washington tossed in 19 while Trevor McDade scored 13 and Marlon Johnson, 11.

The Eagles are off until January 30 when they'll travel to Panama City, Fla., to face Gulf Coast State.