Chipola Wins First Road Contest

November 10, 2007

By Chipola Staff

The #1 nationally ranked Chipola College Indians traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to take on the Lawson State Cougars in their first road test of the season. The Indians passed with flying colors, rolling to a 114-53 victory.

Balance scoring and a swarming defense helped Chipola improve to 4-0 on the season.

“We worked hard all week, preparing ourselves to get better defensively,” said Chipola coach Greg Heiar. “I thought every guy on the team improved. Now we need to just keep getting better.”

The Indians jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead behind the sophomore duo of Mario Little and Mario Edwards, who combined for 8 points in the opening four minutes. It didn’t take long for the lead to swell to 28, as Chipola held a 38-10 advantage with 12:03 still to play in the 1st half.

“I thought we had great energy and effort from all of our players tonight,” said Heiar. “We were ready to go.”

Freshman guard Brian Mitchell led the way in the scoring department, accounting for a game high 20 points, while adding seven rebounds to the cause. He was just one of the seven Indians that reached double figures in scoring on the evening.

The highlight of the game, however, came just minutes after the halftime intermission. That’s when freshman Torye Pelham put together a sequence of offensive rebounds, tip dunks, and ally-oops, scoring 8 of his 13 points in a two minute span.

“It felt good to be back in Birmingham,” said Pelham, who played his prep school basketball at Central Park Christian, located in Birmingham. “I was just trying to bring a spark and play with a lot of energy.”

Pelham, who started for the first time in his young career, grabbed 12 rebounds, 6 on the offensive end.

“We felt like Torye deserved to start tonight,” said Heiar, referencing the fact that sophomore starter Joey Cameron sat out due to injury. “He’s starting to play with more confidence and is becoming the player that we saw all summer and fall.”

Pelham, himself coming back from an injury, was 6 of 9 from the floor and added 2 blocked shots.

Little scored 13, while sophomore Clevin Hannah added 12 points and a season high 8 assists for Chipola. Sophomores Vernon Teel and Malik Alvin had 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Indians are now off until Friday, November 16, when they travel to Decatur, Georgia to play in the Georgia Perimeter Thanksgiving Classic against Brunswick CC.