Eagles rally late to down Santa Fe 80-77

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (November 17, 2015) – NJCAA Region 8 No. 5 Tallahassee Community College overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 7:29 to pick up an 80-77 win over Santa Fe College on Tuesday evening in NJCAA men's basketball action. 

Tallahassee improved to 6-2 with the win while Santa Fe dropped to 3-3. 

After consecutive baskets by Benjy Dumornay gave Santa Fe a 63-51 lead with 7:29 left in the game, Tallahassee caught fire and went on a 14-2 run to tie things up. 

Daishon Smith started things with back-to-back three-pointers. Rashad Lewis later added consecutive triples of his own and Smith tied things at 65-all on a bucket at the 4:26 mark. 

Santa Fe regained a 71-68 lead with just over three minutes left but seven unanswered points gave the Eagles the lead for good. 

After a free throw by Smith, Lewis hit another pair of three-pointers, the second coming at the 1:54 mark to give the Eagles a 75-71 advantage. 

Smith hit a shot in traffic to push Tallahassee's lead to 78-74 with 34 seconds left, effectively sealing the game for the Eagles. 

Smith finished with 22 points, leading all scorers. Lewis came off the bench to score 18. 

Early on, it was all Tallahassee. The Eagles led 23-8 and had the momentum, but Santa Fe rallied and scored the final 19 points of the half to carry a 35-28 lead to the locker room. 

Tallahassee is off until Thanksgiving night when it opens play at the Pirate Thanksgiving Classic at Pensacola State College.