The No. 13 Chipola Indians used an 8-1 game-closing run to earn a much-needed Panhandle Conference victory Saturday night at home, surging past the Tallahassee Eagles late 63-57.
The win gave the Indians (19-3 overall, 5-2 in Panhandle play) sole possession of first place in the league standings ahead of Northwest Florida State and Gulf Coast State (both 4-3), while putting the Eagles on the brink of mathematical elimination from postseason contention at 2-6.
Tallahassee was in position late to come away with game it desperately needed to get after a dunk by Cameron Naylor tied the game at 55-55 and a free throw by Marlon Johnson put the Eagles up one with 2:05 to play.
But a tip dunk by Ty Baker off of a missed shot on the next possession put Chipola back up and Carlos Morris followed his own missed three moments later and scored to make it 59-56 with 56.9 seconds left.
TCC went for the tying three-pointer on the next possession, but it missed and Demetrious Floyd broke out ahead of everyone for an easy layup to put the Indians up five with 34.2 seconds remaining.
Morris finished with 18 points and nine rebounds to lead Chipola, with Sam Cassell, Jr. adding 16 points, and Floyd 15 points.
Naylor led TCC with 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Indians won despite shooting just 2-of-17 from the three-point line and shooting 37 percent overall.
The Eagles couldn't take advantage at the other end, converting just 31 percent from the floor and turning the ball over 19 times compared to 14 for Chipola.
TCC led by as much as 10 in the first half after back-to-back threes by Dirk Williams and Earvin Morris made it 28-18, but Chipola closed with a 9-2 run to cut the margin to three, with Carlos Morris scoring the final seven points on a pair of free throws, a steal and three-point play, and a transition two to make it 30-27.
The Indians went up by five midway through the second half after a jumper and a reverse layup from Baker made it 43-38, but the Eagles answered with an 11-2 run capped by a layup by Earvin Morris to go back up 49-45.
Chipola regained the lead with four straight free throws from Carlos Morris and Cassell, Jr. followed by a bucket from Alpha Ndaw to make it 53-51 with 5:37 left.
Johnson drove to the basket to tie it back up for the Eagles before Cassell, Jr. knocked in two more foul shots to put the Indians back up two with 4:04 remaining.
Chipola will next go to Niceville to take on No. 7 Northwest Florida State (19-4 overall, 4-3 in the Panhandle) on Wednesday, while Tallahassee goes to Niceville on Saturday to play the Raiders.