Eagles win first outright PC Championship since 2001

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (February 19, 2020) – Tallahassee Community College's men's basketball team won a share of its first Panhandle Conference Championship since 2006 with a 73-65 victory over Pensacola State College on Wednesday evening at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome. 

That was at approximately 9:57 p.m. 

A little more than 60 minutes later, when Chipola College knocked off Gulf Coast State College, 101-96, the Eagles had their first outright conference championship since 2001. 

"For us to hang a banner, we can walk into the Eagledome forever and know the coaching staff and team played a huge part in that," said Tallahassee head coach Zach Settembre. "This is something our campus and city should celebrate because it's been a while."  

Tallahassee led by double-digits for most of the first half before taking a 42-33 lead to the locker room. 

Jordan Guest, who scored 11 straight points during one stretch of the first half and finished with 15 total in the first 20 minutes, scored the opening basket of the second half on a two-handed slam off a putback of an Eric Hester miss. At 44-33, that was Tallahassee's last double-digit lead of the night. 

Five minutes into the second half, the lead was down to four, 52-48. By the 10:21 mark, Pensacola State was within two, 56-54, and in the double bonus as both Guest and Tariq Silver were saddled with four fouls. 

The next points belonged to Tallahassee. A basket by El Ellis with 7:37 left ended a three-minute scoring drought and put the Eagles back up by four, 58-54. 

The Pirates made it a one-possession game three more times, the last at 66-63 with 2:53 remaining, courtesy of an Adrian Walker basket. 

Following a Pensacola State timeout, Kailex Stephens hit DeAndre Gholston for a back door lay-in then Hester picked off a pass on the Pirates' ensuing possession, was fouled in transition and hit one of two free throws to open up a 69-63 with 2:23 left. 

The Pirates got a basket and forced a turnover as the clock hit the final 90 seconds but missed a three-point attempt and the Eagles' put the game away the next time down. 

With the shot clock inside five seconds, Daivon Stephens found Gholston cutting through the paint for a lay-in and a 71-65 lead with 43.3 seconds remaining. Gholston added a pair of free throws for good measure, completing a 13-point night off the bench. 

He and Guest, who finished with 17 points, keyed a 37-4 advantage for the Eagle reserves. 

Kailex Stephens finished with 12 and Ellis had 10. 

Tallahassee will open postseason play at 7 p.m. eastern, Wednesday, March 4 against the No. 2 seed from the Suncoast Conference.