Indians rally in second half for 84-75 win on Opening Night
Deyton Albury scored 22 and Derrick Butler scored 20 to lead Chipola
The Indians used a big second half on Tuesday night to take down Coastal Alabama North at the Milton H. Johnson Center.
Sophomore Deyton Albury scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Indians in their 84-75 victory. Derrick Butler, a sophomore guard transfer, scored 20 in his Chipola debut.
The Eagles carried a 39-31 halftime lead into the locker room, using six three-point buckets to help build their advantage.
Chipola fans have grown accustomed to seeing Donnie Tyndall coached teams come out strong in the second half over the past two seasons. The 2022-2023 Indians did not disappoint.
A pair of free throws from Albury capped off a 13-4 Chipola run with 16:42 remaining in the game to go up 44-43.
The teams traded the lead back and forth until a Jamil Safieddine free throw put Chipola ahead for good with just over three minutes remaining.
Freshman JC Curry from Hartwell, Georgia had 12 points for the Indians in his first night at The Milt. Sophomore JT Warren scored in double digits with ten.
The Indians will play again at home this weekend when they host the Chipola Classic. Chipola will play Southwest Mississippi Community College at 7 PM on Friday and Polk State College at 6 PM on Saturday.
From Coach Donnie Tyndall:
"I want to start by saying that Coastal Alabama played very very well. Coach Taylor does a great job and I thought his team competed very hard for 40 minutes. With that being said, I was proud of our guys for showing some grit and toughness and finding a way to win when things weren't necessarily going our way. We continued to drive the ball late and not settle for jump shots and Deyton had some very timely offensive rebounds. I want to thank the people of Jackson County, our campus community, and all the other student athletes that were there tonight. We had a fantastic crowd, and quite honestly, probably don't win the game tonight without them. So again I want to give a very sincere thank you to our fans. You were great and we hope you'll come back this weekend!"