Chipola men get huge Panhandle victory

The Chipola Indians picked up perhaps their biggest win of the season Saturday night at home, topping the No. 8 Pensacola State Pirates 61-48 to stay in the thick of the Panhandle Conference race.

With the win, Chipola (19-5) improved to 3-4 in conference play and moved into a tie for third place with Gulf Coast State in the league standings.

The Indians now trailed Pensacola (20-5, 4-3 in the Panhandle) but just a game for that crucial runner-up spot.

Chipola led by as much as 19 in the second half and stepped up to the challenge with the season, for all intents and purposes, on the line.

“It was a huge,” Indians coach Jake Headrick said after the game. “Obviously, we had to win that game just because they came in here 4-2 and there are only six games left. I think it would’ve been hard for us to catch up if we had lost tonight. We’ve just got to keep taking care of business.”

The Indians got a big boost from the return of 6 foot, 11 inch freshman center Joseph Uchebo, who played his first game since hurting his knee in the conference opener on Jan. 7.

Uchebo only played 16 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing eight rebounds, but Headrick said simply having the big man back on the court made a big difference for his team.

“We didn’t want to overdo it with his minutes, but it was great having Joseph back just to have his presence out there,” he said. “He helps our depth and he helps our identity. He makes us a lot better team. Even though he didn’t score a lot, for him to grab eight rebounds in 16 minutes shows the kind of impact he can have for us on the glass.”

Terel Hall led a balanced Indians attack with 13 points, while Tevin Baskin added 10, Jerel Scott nine (all in the first half), and Trantell Knight and Mo Lee eight each.

Darren Goodsen had 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead Pensacola, while Tyree Smith scored 13.

Goodsen came in leading the Panhandle Conference with 19 points per game, but the Indians largely held the sophomore All-Conference forward in check, with Kruize Pinkins drawing the defensive assignment.

“I thought Kruize did a good job on him and didn’t let him get his easy catches,” Headrick said. “Goodsen is a guy that’s really tough to defend when he gets the ball in his hands.”

It was another stellar defensive effort for the Indians, who have made low scores for the opponents a habit, but Chipola finally got some offense going Saturday night, scoring 36 points in the second half on 52 percent shooting.

“We’ve been pretty good defensively every night. We’re giving ourselves an opportunity to win with defense, but we have to continue to get more production in the scoring area,” Headrick said. “There just comes a certain time when you’re holding teams to 50 points that you’ve just got to be able to score so you can win some games.”

The Indians will return to action on Wednesday with a road game against Gulf Coast State in a game with major playoff implications for both teams.

With Saturday’s win and Uchebo back in the lineup, Headrick said that now is the time for his team to make a run.

“The positive thing for us is that even in the games we’ve lost, we’ve had opportunities to win. The breaks hadn’t gone our way,” he said. “A lot of teams when things go hard, they let up. But this team has worked hard every day. We’ve talked about how if we can keep working and stay bought in, good things will go our way.

“Everybody on the floor (Saturday night) had a goal to win the game no matter what it took. If we can continue to do that, we’ll have a chance to get to where we need to be.”