Raiders Defeat Chipola 61-55, Head to Region 8 State Championship
NICEVILLE, Fla. – Northwest Florida Men's Basketball is going back to the FCSAA Region VIII State Championship game for the first time since 2018-19 after defeating #1 Chipola 61-55. Northwest Florida will be taking on Panhandle foe Tallahassee tomorrow, March 11th at 7:30 PM for an automatic bid to Hutchinson for the National tournament.
Northwest Florida led for over 31 minutes throughout the game with Chipola trailing by one or two possessions all night. The Raiders biggest lead of the night was 7, which was in the first 5 minutes of the game. The biggest difference in the game was the toughness from NWF as they got to the free throw line 35 times compared to Chipola's 12. Even though the Raiders did not cash in well from the charity stripe, NWF knocked down 19 of them compared to Chipola's 7.
The Raider defense was tenacious tonight as they forced Chipola to turn the ball over 21 times and capitalized on those turnovers into 17 points. Takai Simpkins' steal and dunk at the 6:00 minute mark flipped the momentum for the Raiders as it tied the game at 49 a piece. Northwest Florida proceeded to go on a 8-2 run after that and the Raiders never looked back from that moment on.
Tomorrow's championship game will be the 4th matchup between #16 Northwest Florida and #7 Tallahassee. The Raiders have won 2 of 3 matchups, with the Eagles winning the first matchup 76-68 in Raider Arena, then NWF winning the second and third matchup 69-67 in the Eagle Dome and 63-61 at home. Tomorrow will be no different for the two teams as the game is expected to go down to the wire with an automatic bid on the line for Hutch.
Both Raider basketball teams will be playing for the State Championship tomorrow! Come out to Raider Arena and support our Raiders!!