High Five!

Eagles extend win streak to five games, squeaking out a win in St. Pete

By Brenden Martin
TCC Sports Information
@brendenmartin28

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (November 15, 2013) - The Tallahassee Community College Eagles began their weekend road trip on a good note, defeating St. Petersburg College, 71-67, and extending their current win streak to five games.

Tallahassee came into Friday's game ranked No. 4 in the Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA) Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll and ranked No. 23 in the NJCAA. They were looking to build on their impressive four-game win streak to open the season.

The St. Petersburg Titans, on the other hand, were coming off back-to-back losses, but they did pick up a win this season against FCSAA No. 6 ranked Daytona State College. Friday was the first of two matchups between the two teams this season. They will meet again on December 17 in Tallahassee.

As with most of the games for the Eagles so far this season, the game began neck-and-neck. Tallahassee only had a four point advantage at halftime, leading 32-28.

The Eagles began to pull away in the second half, eventually increasing their lead to ten points (61-51) with eight minutes to go in the game. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they could not build on that lead, and the game went down to the wire.

Tallahassee missed seven of nine free throws down the stretch to keep the Titans hanging around. But Cameron Naylor put the team on his back in the closing minutes, scoring eight straight points for the Eagles, to seal the victory.

Naylor finished with a team-high 19 points and five rebounds.

Four Eagles scored in double figures. Dirk Williams and Elmo Stephen each had 12 points, which was the second highest point total behind Naylor. Earvin Morris contributed ten points.

Tallahassee improved to 5-0 to start the season, but it could be tough for the Eagles to come away from this road trip unscathed as they play the second game of this back-to-back at No. 6 ranked Daytona State on Saturday at 4 p.m.