Raiders Run Out of Time, Chipola wins 83-79
MARIANNA, Fla. - Northwest Florida came up just short at The Milt after being down by as much as 16 late in the second half. The Raiders ran out of time as they fell to Chipola 83-79 on the road tonight. Northwest Florida falls to 20-7 on the year, 6-3 in Panhandle Conference play.
The Raiders might get down in a game but, you can never count them out. There were multiple instances tonight when NWF was down double digits and came fighting back to make it a tight ball game yet again. In the first half, Chipola got up 28-16 with 7 minutes remaining in the first half and the Raiders climbed back to make it a 4-point game at halftime. In the second half, NWF was down 66-50 with just under 6 minutes remaining when Coach DeMeo dialed up a full-court press, the Raiders came back to bring it to 75-74 before a few costly turnovers allowed the Indians to pull away late.
Despite only getting off 50 shots tonight, the Indians were very efficient from the field as they connected on 28 of 50 shots (56%). Deyton Albury was the leading scorer for Chipola with 24 points on 7-12 shooting. Meanwhile, the Raiders were 26-66 (39.4%) from the field. Northwest Florida was led by Chad Baker-Mazara tonight, as he scored 22 points on 8-15 shooting. Kasean Pryor and Taryn Todd each chipped in 15 points.
#20 Northwest Florida (20-7, 6-3) will be back at home on Wednesday, February 15th vs. Tallahassee at 7:30 PM. #6 Tallahassee (23-3, 6-2) had a bye tonight. In their most recent game, Tallahassee was handed their 3rd loss of the season from #8 Chipola, losing 82-57 on the road. The Eagles will be coming to town for the third matchup with the Raiders. In the first two matchups this season, the road team has come away with the victory with Tallahassee winning 76-68 in Raider Arena on January 11th and Northwest Florida winning the second matchup 69-67 in the Eagle Dome.
For more information on Northwest Florida athletics, visit NWFRaiders.com or follow @NWFRaiders on Twitter and Instagram.