TCC’s home opener ends in blowout of Hillsborough

By Bianca Cacho, TCC Sports Information 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (November 5, 2015) - NJCAA Region 8 No. 4 Tallahassee Community College had its home opener at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome on Thursday evening when it took on the Hillsborough Community College Hawks and came away with a 94-57 victory. This game was also the home debut of head coach Mark White.   

A large crowd came out to support the Eagles, and many student-athletes from other teams at TCC came to support the men's basketball team. Coach White commended the support, "I want to thank our student-athletes from the other sports. That means so much." 

The home opener brought attention to not only the men's basketball team but introduced White's coaching intensity. When White was asked if the players were responding to his style he responded, "for the most part, we're trying to get every one of them to respond."  

The first half started off in the Eagles' favor as Ryan Johnson shot for two to get on the board first. The Eagles were relentless in the first half, using a 30-0 run to build an insurmountable lead over the Hawks. Six players for TCC had a double-digit game, Daishon Smith being the lead scorer with 18 points and Johnson following behind with 13. 

Smith expressed that the team needs to work on having a "killer instinct" by taking the lead and keeping the lead, not allowing teams to score more in the second half. 

Coach White stated that he was happy with the way the men played in the first half but was not pleased with the way the team performed in the second half. 

"We gave up 23 points in the first half and 34 the second half, I told the guys we have to change our mentality, play possession by possession." 

White felt the overall mentality in the second half was not as strong coming in from a strong first 20 minutes.   

Tallahassee (2-1) will return to action at 2 p.m. Saturday when it hosts St. Petersburg College.