Eagle men fall at Chipola

MARIANNA, Fla. (January 25, 2020) – A slow start doomed NJCAA No. 15/Region 8 No. 3 Tallahassee Community College in an 80-72 loss at Region 8 No. 9 Chipola College on Saturday evening. 

Tallahassee (19-4) has lost back-to-back games for the first time this season and fell back into a second-place tie with Pensacola State College in the Panhandle Conference standings. Both teams are 3-2 in league play, just one-half game ahead of the Indians (15-7, 3-3), who have won two straight. 

Chipola never trailed on Saturday. Lat Mayen opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and the Indians needed just 5:19 to open up a double-digit lead (13-2). After DeAndre Gholston's putback got the Eagles within single digits, Chipola rattled off eight unanswered points for a 21-4 lead and eventually led 31-9 with 5:37 left in the first half. 

A 14-4 run got Tallahassee within 10 before going to the locker room, trailing 38-25. 

The Eagles got within seven on two different occasions inside the first five minutes of the second half. Tariq Silver's three-pointer cut Chipola's lead to 45-38 with 15:38 left in the game, but that's as close as the Eagles would get until he hit another three just before the final buzzer. 

Silver finished with a game-high 22 points for Tallahassee. El Ellis joined him in double-figures with 14. 

The Eagles will return to action on Wednesday when they host Northwest Florida State College at 7:30 p.m.