Indians make home debut

The Chipola Indians will make their third venture into preseason action Saturday, making their first appearance at home against Faulkner and Auburn-Montgomery.

The Tallahassee Eagles will also be in action at the Milton H. Johnson Health Center, taking on Faulkner at 10 a.m. and AUM at 2 p.m.

Chipola plays AUM at 12 p.m. and Faulkner at 4 p.m.

The Indians went 5-1 in their first preseason series of scrimmages Oct. 9 and 10, and went 2-1 at another scrimmage session Oct. 17 in Atlanta.

Chipola lost to East Mississippi by a point in its first game in Atlanta. The Indians then rebounded to take wins of 37 and 21 points over Alabama Southern and Volunteer State.

The Indians were missing a few players against East Mississippi, but Chipola coach Jake Headrick said his team learned a valuable lesson.

“It was an early morning game and our guys weren’t very focused,” the coach said. “The learning experience out of the deal was that whenever we don’t come to play and aren’t 100 percent into it, anybody can beat us.”

The games were played with a running 20-minute clock for each half, with each free throw counting for two points.

That made Chipola’s 2-of-10 performance from the foul line that much more costly.

Headrick said his team performed at a much higher level after the opening loss.

“We played good after the first game,” the coach said. “They bounced back, played hard and defended. When we defend well, it creates opportunities on the other end for easy baskets.”

The Indians suffered a setback with the health of freshman big man Steadman Short, who aggravated an ankle he sprained earlier this month and didn’t play the final two games in Atlanta.

Headrick said Short would be out for the next two weeks, but he believes his team will have no trouble picking up the slack in the mean time.

“It definitely hurts our size inside, but we’ve got a bunch of guys that have versatility and can play different positions,” the coach said. “I feel like anybody on this team can contribute and do a lot of different things.

“It hurts because he’s a really good player, but we’ve got guys who can step up.”

Saturday’s games will be the first of the preseason to feature regular game rules, with no running clock and a 30-second shot clock.

“This is the first time played we’ve played in a real game atmosphere,” Headrick said. “I think it will be another week to see where these guys stand.

“It will be the first time some of them have played a real 40-minute game. The kids who were in high school last year have never played in that kind of game.
When you play with those 20-minute running clocks, the game goes by so fast.”

Both Faulkner and AUM are four-year schools, so the Indians will be taking on older and more physically mature players.

However, Headrick said he wasn’t concerned about the competition his team would face, but rather the approach the Indians themselves take.

“We’re just going to get ourselves better this week,” the coach said. “With these deals, we never do any scouting, just roll it out there and do our deal.

“I think the games will be a little bit slower, so we’ll see how we execute more offensively and how we run our sets. I hope we’ll slow down a little bit and play a little smarter.”