By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

The No. 7 Chipola Indians rallied back from 20 points down to knock off No. 18 East Georgia State in the regular season opener Friday night at the Milton H. Johnson Health Center.

The Indians were without two of their best players in All Panhandle Conference sophomores Demetrious Floyd and Cinmeon Bowers and it showed early on.

East Georgia State broke open a 9-9 game in the first half with a 17-2 run and moved ahead by as much as 20 points.

But Chipola stormed back with a big run late in the half to cut the margin to 45-41 at the break, and they eventually took the lead for good with eight minutes left to play.

"It was just a good, hard-fought win," Indians coach Patrick Blake said after the game. "We kind of struggled finding a rhythm and finding our identity early, but we switched things up and went to a full court press and were able to get some easy buckets in transition and cut into their lead and that gave us some momentum."

Chipola never led by more than six points and had to hold off a talented East Georgia State team that won 31 games last season and advanced to the national tournament.

It's a quality win over a quality opponent that is all the more impressive given the absence of Bowers and Floyd.

"It was a big win, but we're still growing as a team and still figuring out who we are," Blake said. "But I was really happy with our energy and our effort and our ability to overcome such a large deficit in the first half."

Chipola will next go on the road this weekend with a trip to Decatur, Ga., to face off with Atlanta Metro on Friday and Georgia Perimeter on Saturday.