The Chipola Indians defeated #1 seed Indian River State College on Saturday night, 73-64, to win the FCSAA State Title and punch their ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.
In what has become a trademark of Coach Donnie Tyndall's Chipola teams, the Indians came out of the locker room in the second half and used a double-digit run to pull away from the Pioneers to claim their 17th State Championship, the most of any other FCSAA college.
Indian River, the state's leader in 3-point field goal percentage, started the game true to form as their first six points came from second-chance three pointers.
The Pioneers' pushed their game-opening run to 8-1 before a pair of Kris Gardner shots from beyond the arc bookended a Nae'qwan Tomlin layup to give the Indians a 9-8 lead with just under 14 minutes remaining in the first half.
The teams traded the lead back and forth over the next seven minutes of the first half before the Indians used a 10-0 run capped off by a pair of three-pint baskets from Cliff Davis and Gardner with 6:39 remaining before the break.
After an Indian River timeout, the Pioneers' three point shots began to fall as they used three shots from beyond the arc in a 13-2 run to take a 29-25 lead with three and a half minutes left before intermission, prompting a timeout from Coach Tyndall.
The state's top two teams exchanged bubkets the remainder of the half with Indian River taking advantage of a foul called with less than two seconds remaining to take a 36-33 lead into the locker room.
At the half, Indian River was shooting 8-of-17 (47.1%) from three-point range but their lack of long-distance shooting in the second half would become the story. Chipola held the Pioneers to just 1-of-12 from behind the arc while making 4-of-12 on their own end of the court.
Another trademark of Coach Tyndall-led Chipola teams has been the ability to get everyone involved in the offense. All eight Indians that saw action in the ffirst twenty minutes scored with Nae'qwan Tomlin contributing 10 of his 16 total points to lead the Indians at the break.
The Indians quickly erased the Pioneers' lead in just over a minute of play, scoring on their first two possessions of the second half to take a 37-36. Back-to-back threes from Gardner stretched the lead out to seven and forced an Indian River timeout.
After a stop on the defensive end, the Indians topped off a 12-0 run with a Faizon Fields slam that brought the Indians faithful that made the quick trip over to Niceville to their feet.
The Pioneers used a 9-2 run of their own and cut the Chipola lead to two with 13 and a half minutes left to play in the game but they would not be able to get any closer.
The Indians used four different players to score nine unanswered points and take their largest lead of the game with just under nine minutes remaining.
The Pioneers would get a couple of runs throughout the remainder of the game to pull within four points at the six minute mark and within six points with just over a minute remaining. Chipola would answer each time and put the game away and earn a return trip to Hutchinson, Kansas for the NJCAA National Tournament.
Kris Gardner led all scorers with 20 points, a career-high for the three year sophomore, who missed last season's championship run due to an injury siffered at the end of the regualr season. Nae'Qwan Tomlin wrapped up the Tournament Most Valuable Player Award with 16 points, his third double-digit performance of the tournament.
The Indians will wait to find out their first game date and time and opponent of the NJCAA National Tournament. Seedings will be announced on the NJCAA Selection Show at 5:30 on Sunday, March 6.
Game Notes
- Chipola held Indian River, the nation's tenth highest scoring team and the FCSAA's first, to their lowest point total since their opening game of the 2020-2021 season, a 61-58 win over Pensacola State on January 22.
- Kris Gardner and Lance Erving joined Tournament MVP, Nae'qwan Tomlin, on the All-Tournament Team. Coach Donnie Tyndall was named the FCSAA Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
- After shooting above 50% from behind the arc in their first two tournament games, Indian River was held to just 9-of-29 for 31% by Coach Tyndall's defense.
- Faizon Fields finished the game with ten rebounds, his fourth double-digit rebound game in Chipola's last five contests.
- Dating back to the 2018-2019 season, the Indians have won thirteen of their last fourteen games, including two state championship games, inside Northwest Florida's Raider Arena.