Eagles survive late rally to down St. Petersburg

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (December 17, 2013) – For 30 minutes, FCSAA No. 4 Tallahassee Community College appeared on its way to an easy win over St. Petersburg College on Tuesday evening at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome. 

The visiting Titans had other ideas, however. 

After leading by as many as 19 points, the Eagles survived a furious rally by St. Petersburg and pulled out a 69-64 win to run their winning streak to five games. 

Tallahassee enters the Christmas break with a 10-4 record while St. Petersburg falls to 6-8. 

The Eagles led 29-19 at the break and eventually increased their lead to 19 points (47-28) on a basket by Earvin Morris with 12:13 left in the game. Then, in the span of 58 seconds, St. Petersburg's Jordan Stephenson connected on three straight three-pointers to pull the Titans with 10 (47-37). 

A three-pointer by Eric Nottage pushed Tallahassee's lead back to 15 points (61-46) at the 3:50 mark. Once again, however, the Titans had an answer. 

A 13-2 run got St. Petersburg within four points (63-59) with 1:04 left in the game, but Tallahassee finally put things away by hitting of 4-of-6 from the free throw line in the final minute. 

Morris led four Tallahassee players in double-figures with 15 points. Dirk Williams added 13, Cameron Naylor, 12, and Elmo Stephen, 11. 

Colton Lewis led St. Petersburg with 17 points. 

Tallahassee will resume play on Monday, December 30 when it hosts East Mississippi Community College on day one of the Best Western Holiday Classic.