Eagles’ comeback bid falls short against Northwest Florida State

By Karl Hunt, TCC Sports Information

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (January 3, 2015) – The NJCAA No. 19/FCSAA No. 3 Tallahassee Community College Eagles came up short in their Panhandle Conference opener on Saturday night, falling to NJCAA No. 2/FCSAA No. 1 Northwest Florida State 85-78. 

In a game that featured seven lead changes, the Eagles, after a slow start, jumped out to a nine-point lead half way through the first half. The Raiders began to chip away at the lead and entered halftime with a 12-point lead (45-33). Northwest Florida State stretched the lead in the second half to  as many as 17, their largest of the game, but the Eagles would not give up.   

Tallahassee cut the Raiders' lead to five late in the second half but ran out of time as their comeback bid fell short. 

Tallahassee was unable to slow down the scoring attack of the Raiders as Northwest Florida State had four players score in double digits, led by Jalen Jackson, who was also the team's leading rebounder. Jackson scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds on the night. 

The Eagles were led by Elmo Stephen, who was named TCC Eagle of the Game, with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 4-for-6 from three-point range.  Stephen also played solid on the boards pulling down five rebounds, with four of them coming on the offensive side.  

Two other Eagles scored in double digits with Stavian Allen recording 13 and Cameron Smith, 10. Allen also led the Eagles with seven rebounds. 

Tallahassee will be back in action Wednesday, January 7 as they hit the road to take on conference opponent Pensacola State College.  The game will tip-off at 8:30 p.m. and can be seen on psblive.com.