The Chipola men's basketball team only led for one minute and fifty-seven seconds in their quarterfinal game against Indian River State College but it was all the Indians needed. Chipola came away with an exciting 78-75 come-from-behind victory to survive and advance to the NJCAA Men's Basketball Final Four.

Chipola will take on 10 seed Coffeyville Community College, Friday night at 7 PM, in the second of two semifinal games. The Red Ravens advanced with a 83-80 overtime win over 2 seed Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa.

On the Indians' first possession, Nae'Qwan Tomlin gave Chipola their only lead of the first half, taking an inbound pass from Jaeden Zackery to the basket for an easy layup. 

The Pioneers took over from there and pushed their first half lead out to eleven with eleven minutes remaining in the first half. The Indians managed to fight back to tie the game, with under two minutes remaining in the half, on a three-pointer from Dontae Walker. The Pioneers pushed the lead back out to four and led at the half, 41-37.

The Indians trailed for nearly all of the second half until a Carlos Lemus three-pointer gave Chipola the lead, 72-70, with 2:20 left to play in the game. After a missed Pioneer shot with under two minutes remaining, Lemus was fouled and made both free throws to push the lead to 74-70.

The Pioneers refused to fade away coming back with a three-pointer of their own and then took the lead, 75-74, on two free throws with 1:08 remaining.

On the Indians' next possession, Lance Erving received a pass from Jaeden Zackery and was fouled as he drove to the basket. Erving made one of two free throws to even the score, 75-75, with one minute remaining.

The Pioneers tried to attack on their end of the court but Naheem McLeod blocked an attempt at a layup to give the Indians the ball with 40 seconds remaining.

Following a Chipola timeout, Jaeden Zackery capped off his 24-point performance with a drive toward the baseline and drained a jump shot from the right side to give the Indians the lead, 77-75.

The Indians would put the game away after a traveling call on the Pioneers with ten seconds remaining. Chipola inbounded the ball and got the ball out to Nae'Qwan Tomlin for a dunk but he was fouled from behind with 3.1 seconds remaining. Tomlin made one of two free throws and a half court heave from the Pioneers was off the mark, giving the Indians the 78-75 victory.

Game Notes

• Jaeden Zackery picked a good time to have a career night and get his season-high of 24 points. Zackery was 9-of-13 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc and all four of his shots from the free throw line. "JZ" also tied a career-high with eight assists and had six takeaways. 
• Two other players had double-digit perfomances for the Indians. Lance Erving came off the bench to tally 14 points. Although Nae'Qwan Tomlin was just 4-of-14 from the floor, he managed to pour in ten for the Indians.
• This was the second win in less than two weeks over the Pioneers. Chipola defeated Indian River in the FCSAA Championship game, 78-75, on April 10.

Tournament Notes

• #6 Chipola is the highest seed remaining in the tournament and will face the #10 seed in the second semifinal game. #13 Ranger defeated the number five seed, South Plains, 87-83 and will take on #8 Cowley who defeated the number one seed, Mineral Area, 105-101. 
• All four of the quarterfinal games were decided by four or less points and two of the games went to overtime.
• Two of the teams remaining in the tournament are playing in their home state. Cowley and Coffeyville are both located in Kansas.
• This is the first time since 2016 that all of the top four seeds in the tournament failed to make the Final Four.