No. 1 Stunners! Tallahassee Community College basketball upsets top-ranked Chipola College
Upset alert!
Tallahassee Community College men's basketball knocked off the NJCAA Division I's No. 1 ranked team Chipola College inside Bill Hebrock Eagledome on Saturday.
The fifth-ranked Eagles' (21-1, 4-0 Panhandle) bested the top-ranked and Panhandle Conference foe Indians (21-1, 3-1 Panhandle), 62-54.
TCC's win was the first blemish to Chipola's formerly undefeated record.
"This is what college basketball is all about," TCC coach Rick Cabrera said. "This was a Duke-North Carolina type game in regard to rivalry. I knew this was going to be a dogfight from start to finish.
"These guys played their tails off and through adversity. I don't want any credit because (the players) scored all the baskets today. As a coach, this is probably the best game that I've been a part of."
Guard Addison Patterson led TCC with 13 points. Forward Tom Mark finished with seven points and 12 rebounds.
"It feels great and it was kind of expected if we did what we do every game," Mark said. "We played together and got stops and the outcome was a win."
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Saturday's win was the Eagles' 20th consecutive victory on the season ― not suffering defeat since Nov. 11's loss to Southern Union State Community College.
It's also Cabrera's second 20-win season in as many years at TCC.
"I've been lucky enough to have good players and I got the best two assistants in the country that recruited their tails off," Cabrera said. "I came in the ninth inning and closed it out, but they pitched a great first eight innings in recruiting. You got to sell the college and your vision and we brought in some really talented guys.
"Last year, I thought we were pretty good, but were missing a couple pieces to get us over the hump. But this year, I think we have the ability to achieve our common goal ― which is win a national championship."
It was an electric environment in the Eagledome, which had standing room only available and featured a band inside of the jam-packed arena that holds 800 people.
The game was also broadcasted via ESPN+ as its game of the week.
"The atmosphere was unbelievable," Cabrera said. "I told the team that this is what they came here for and to have fun in a constructive way to feed off the energy from the crowd.
"There's no exact science to this. You just got to play, showcase your talents and everything will take care of itself."
The Eagles will host Northwest Florida State College on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 7:30.
Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@gannett.com or on Twitter @3peatgee.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TCC MBB: Eagles beat No. 1 Chipola for 20th consecutive victory
