Chipola Indians Win State Championship; Headed to Nationals

The Chipola Indians defeated No. 1 seed Indian River State College (73-64) on Saturday, March 5, to win back-to-back FCSAA State Titles and punch their ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

In what has become a trademark of Coach Donnie Tyndall's Chipola teams, the Indians came out of the locker room in the second half and used a double-digit run to pull away from the Pioneers to claim their 17th State Championship, the most of any other FCSAA college.

Indian River, the state's leader in 3-point field goal percentage, started the game true to form as their first six points came from second-chance three pointers.

The Pioneers' three-point shots began to fall as they used three shots from beyond the arc in a 13-2 run to take a 29-25 lead. The teams exchanged buckets the remainder of the half with Indian River taking a 36-33 lead into the locker room.

Another trademark of Coach Tyndall-led Chipola teams has been the ability to get everyone involved in the offense. All eight Indians that saw action in the first 20 minutes scored with Nae'qwan Tomlin contributing 10 of his 16 total points to lead the Indians at the break.

The Indians quickly erased the Pioneers' lead in just over a minute of play, scoring on their first two possessions of the second half to take a 37-36. Back-to-back threes from Gardner stretched the lead out to seven and forced an Indian River timeout.

After a stop on the defensive end, the Indians topped off a 12-0 run with a Faizon Fields slam that brought the Indians faithful that made the quick trip over to Niceville to their feet.

The Pioneers used a 9-2 run of their own and cut the Chipola lead to two with 13 and a half minutes left to play in the game, but they would not be able to get any closer.

The Pioneers would get a couple of runs throughout the remainder of the game to pull within four points at the six-minute mark and within six points with just over a minute remaining. Chipola would answer each time and put the game away to earn a return trip to Hutchinson, Kansas for the NJCAA National Tournament.

Kris Gardner led all scorers with 20 points, a career-high for the sophomore, who missed last season's championship run due to an injury. Nae'Qwan Tomlin wrapped up the Tournament Most Valuable Player Award with 16 points, his third double-digit performance of the tournament.

The Indians will play winner of Hutchinson Community College vs. Connors State in the first round of the NJCAA National Tournament on March 16, 2 p.m. CT. Chipola finished last season in the final four of the National Tournament. The championship game of nationals is set for Saturday, March 19, at 6 p.m. National Championship games can be live streamed at https://www.njcaa.org/network/live.