By Nathan Deen
Published on January 8, 2008
After starting conference play with a record of 0-3, their latest lost coming on the road at the hands of Tallahassee, the PJC men’s basketball team unfortunately had to turn right around and play No. 1 ranked Chipola (22-0, 4-0) on Saturday night. Despite a hard fought first half, the Pirates were blown out in the second half and lost by a final score of 80-58.
The Pirates (12-9, 0-4) gained momentum early and jumped out to an 8-2 lead, but the team got into foul trouble early. Chipola entered in the double bonus with a little less than eight minutes remaining in the first half and shot 13/15 from the foul line. The Indians took a 36-31 lead into halftime.
“We played a good first half,” said PJC head coach Paul Swanson. “In the second half, they started to make big plays and we failed to.”
Free throws and turnovers turned out to be the undoing of PJC, as they were outscored 44-23 in the second half. Chipola shot 20/27 from the foul line for the game while PJC shot only 9/16.
“Anytime you’re on the road, you gotta get to the free throw line,” said Chipola head coach Greg Heiar.
The Pirates were also unable to adjust to the quickness and aggressiveness of the Indians as they committed 30 turnovers while Chipola committed only 15.
Swanson also said that Chipola’s depth began to show in the second half.
“They just kept coming at us with waves of guys that could come in and make plays,” said Swanson. “Once our key players started to fatigue, their talent took over.”
Guard Malik Alvin lead Chipola in scoring with 16 points. Forward Mario Little had 14 points (10/11 FT), and guard Mario Edwards and Vernon Teel each had 13 points.
Forward Miles Taylor led all scorers with 17 points and forward Eugene Blue lead all players in rebounding with 11. Petras Balocka had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Pirate backcourt struggled throughout the game as the highest scoring guard was Jerome Burgos with only 8 points. The Pirates shot just 3/11 from the perimeter.
PJC will travel on the road Wednesday night to take on Okaloosa Walton, who beat PJC in the controversial conference season opener. Tip off at 7:30 p.m.