Raider Defeat High-Flying Eagles 63-61

NICEVILLE, Fla. -  The Raiders came away with a huge win over Tallahassee tonight 63-61. Northwest Florida improves to 21-7, 7-3 in Panhandle Conference play.

In the first half, points came at a premium with the game knotted up at 23 a piece. The game went back and forth, with the lead changing 14 times and the score being tied another 9 times. With 2.2 seconds left on the clock and the Raiders up 63-61, the Tallahassee defense locked the Raiders up from getting the ball in-bounds and forced a 5 second violation. In the end, the Raiders came away with a W as Marcus Niblack snatched the ball out of the air with 2.2 seconds on the clock to seal the game.

The two teams were very similar tonight as both teams were 24-60 from the field, both teams had 20 turnovers, and Tallahassee recorded 41 rebounds while Northwest Florida had 40 rebounds. The difference in the game was from the 3-point line where the Raiders were 7-19 (36.8%) while Tallahassee was 2-15 (13.3%). Chad Baker-Mazara hit a big time three in the corner with the Raiders up 1. Baker-Mazara was fouled on the shot and converted the AND-1 for the 4 point play to put the Raiders up 5. 

Baker-Mazara led the Raiders with 18 points on 7-14 shooting. Kasean Pryor accounted for 14 points and a team-high 9 rebounds. Marcus Niblack had 11 points and 4 steals, including the game-winner as the clock expired. 

#20 Northwest Florida (21-7, 7-3) will have a bye on Saturday before hitting the road to Pensacola Wednesday, February 22nd to take on the Pirates. Pensacola (10-16, 1-8) picked up their first Panhandle Conference win last Saturday vs. Gulf Coast. The Pirates have had a tough go-round in the conference, losing 3 games by one possession and losing another 3 by single digits. Pensacola will head to Tallahassee before the final matchup with the Raiders. 

For more information on Northwest Florida athletics, visit NWFRaiders.com or follow @NWFRaiders on Twitter and Instagram.