By: Dustin Kent - JCFloridan.com

The No. 4 Chipola Indians picked up their second Panhandle Conference win in four nights Tuesday in Marianna, and for the second straight time they had to sweat it out to the very end.

Cinmeon Bowers scored a big basket in the final minute and Jamaar McKay came up with a huge blocked shot to help lift the Indians to a 69-65 victory over Gulf Coast State in to move to 2-0 in the Panhandle Conference and 16-1 overall.

The win followed a 77-76 nail-biter against Pensacola State on Saturday and came in spite of a dreadful shooting performance for the Indians, who shot 33 percent from the field and made just 2-of-21 from the three-point line.

"I'm just glad we won because we were out of sync offensively all night," Chipola coach Patrick Blake said after the game. "Credit to Gulf Coast; they played hard and competed all game. We were fortunate to get some stops late. Any time you get a win in the Panhandle, you're happy, but I'm not pleased with our attitude and approach right now."

Bowers had 15 points and seven rebounds to lead Chipola, with his inside basket with 39.8 seconds left breaking a 64-64 tie.

The Commodores had a chance to go back on top when coach Jay Powell drew up a play out of a timeout for a Devon Baulkman three-pointer from the left wing, but McKay raced out to contest it and got a piece of the shot.

Sam Cassell, Jr. came down with the rebound for Chipola and made two clutch free throws to salt the game away at 68-64 with 21.9 seconds remaining.

Carlos Morris also had 14 points and seven rebounds for Chipola, with Demetrious Floyd scoring 10 points, and Dont'e Reynolds posting eight points and 11 rebounds.

Jonathan Wade and Elliott Cole each had 16 points to lead the Commodores, who were making their conference debut and dropped to 12-6 overall with the loss.

It was a back and forth game virtually throughout, with neither team leading by more than five points in a first half that finished with Chipola holding a 30-27 edge.

The Indians appeared to wrestle control of the game away with an 8-1 run featuring a dunk by Bowers, a running one-hander by Morris, a bucket by Reynolds, and two free throws from Cassell, Jr. to make it 59-51 with 6:05 remaining.

But Gulf Coast took advantage of a pair of quick three-point attempts on Chipola's next two possessions to close back to within three after a transition bucket by Dedrick Turner and a three by Cole.

A deep jumper by Baulkman cut the margin to two at 64-62 with 1:32 to play, and a pair of free throws by Basil Deveaux tied the game up with 59.2 seconds remaining.

Chipola found Bowers on the next possession on the left block for a post-up and the sophomore powered his way to the rim for a basket and a foul.

Bowers couldn't convert the three-point play, but the Indians never relinquished the lead.

Though the win made Chipola the first 2-0 team in the Panhandle Conference, its coach still says there is a lot of work left for his team if it's going to make a run at a league title and beyond.

"We had too many guys who were concerned about making plays at home and some guys just did not have the right mindset," Blake said. "These are not selfish guys, but we're still doing too much stuff on our own and taking some bad shots out of the flow of the offense. We thought that might change when we get into Panhandle Conference play, but we still need a leader out there. Someone has to step up and it needs to be the sophomores."

The Indians will return to league play Tuesday with a road game against Tallahassee, while the Commodores will get their shot at the Eagles on Saturday in Panama City.