Daytona State awarded win over Tallahassee in men's action

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (November 19, 2013) - Last Saturday's NJCAA men's basketball contest between Tallahassee Community College and Daytona State College has been ruled a completed game by the Florida College System Activities Association (FCSAA), thus awarding Daytona State a 19-6 victory over the Eagles.

Saturday's game, an FCSAA top ten matchup played at Daytona State's Lemerand Center, was halted at the 14:30 mark of the first half after a skirmish resulted in multiple ejections. Among the participants disqualified were seven Tallahassee players who left the bench, which nets an automatic ejection per NJCAA and FCSAA by-laws.

With the Eagles down to four players, Tallahassee head coach Eddie Barnes opted to not continue the game. As a result, the FCSAA, on Monday, honored the score at the time play was stopped, which gave the Falcons the win.

The loss, Tallahassee's first of the season, dropped the Eagles to 5-1.

Ejections of this nature come with a three-game suspension, per FCSAA rules, and late Tuesday, Tallahassee director of athletics Rob Chaney announced the following players would begin serving their suspension immediately: Cameron Naylor, Dirk Williams, Richard Peters, Michael Saxton, Elmo Stephen, Davauntae Ward, Marlon Johnson and Cheick Thiero. Tallahassee suspended Thiero for an additional two games while Trevor McDade, currently not on the Eagles' active roster, was suspended for the remainder of the season due to entering the playing floor from the stands.

"Our young men understand they made a mistake and that this type of behavior does not meet the standards of Tallahassee Community College Athletics," said Chaney. "We'll use this as a teaching moment, however, and move forward as a team."

As it did Saturday, the suspensions leave Tallahassee with only four active players - Cameron Dozier, Eric Nottage, Duran Porter and Earvin Morris. As a result, the Eagles will forfeit their next three games beginning with Thursday's scheduled date at Gordon (Ga.) State College.

The second and third games of the penalty will occur during the Eagles' annual Thanksgiving Classic, where they were scheduled to play Southwest Tennessee Community College and Daytona State on November 27 and 28, respectively. Also on Tuesday, Daytona State announced it would not travel to Tallahassee for its November 27 game, thus eliminating all but one game of the men's half of the event.

Southwest Tennessee and Jeff Davis (Ala.) Community College will play, as originally scheduled, but the game will take place at 3 p.m. Wednesday, November 27.

Women's action in the Classic will be held as scheduled, beginning Tuesday, November 26. In addition to Tallahassee, the event will feature perennial national power Walters State (Tenn.) Community College, Gadsden State (Ala.) Community College and Daytona State.

Tallahassee's next game will take place Friday, December 6 on the first day of the annual Milton H. Johnson Panhandle Classic, hosted by Chipola College.