Chipola outpaces Northwest Florida in the Regional Semifinals

NICEVILLE, FL - When the brackets were released for the men's side of the FCSAA State/NJCAA Region VIII Tournament last week, those familiar with the Panhandle Conference couldn't help but glance at the possibility of the league co-champions in Northwest Florida and Chipola facing each other for the fourth time this season in the semifinals.  Sure, both teams still had very difficult challenges to overcome in the opening quarterfinal round.  Both, however, did just that, and in the process, set up the highly-anticipated matchup that had everyone's attention throughout the NJCAA.

From the opening jump, the physicality and intensity between the two powerhouses were omnipresent. Both teams knew a trip to the regional finals were at stake, and they each played like it from the onset of the game.  The first portion was fairly even with each having their turn of making a crowd pleasing play.  However, as the game waned, it was Chipola who began to keep the Raiders at arm's length and never relinquished the lead down the home stretch in route to a 78-72 win over Northwest Florida.

The majority of the first, each team had their share of momentum capturing plays.  Chipola, however, made just a few more than NWF and took a slim 3-point advantage into the halftime break.  Chipola shot a great field goal percentage in the first half (58%) while the Raiders seemed to struggle knocking down the few open looks they got during the period.  All that said, Northwest Florida felt buoyed to an extent to be down only 3 points and was hoping to duplicate another second half surge like they did in the quarterfinals against Eastern Florida.

Those hopes were stalled in the early minutes of the second half.  Chipola raced out to a double digit lead to set the tone.  The Raiders, however, kept nipping at the Indians heels and made several threats of going on a significant run.  In fact, NWF cut it to 6 with several minutes remaining and seemed poised to make a valiant comeback.  Chipola extinguished that run, as they did others throughout the half, thanks to diversified scoring throughout their roster, with 5 players scoring in double figures.  Late free throws sealed the win for the Indians and the Raiders are now left to wait for a call from the NJCAA on Selection Sunday for the National Tournament in two weeks.

The Raiders (26-5) were led in scoring by Deshawndre Washington, who had a game-high 26 points.  Kam Woods added 11 and Issa Muhammad chipped in 10.