TCC men's basketball wins opener at National Tournament behind Davis' heroics, 31 points
HUTCHINSON, Kansas – Tallahassee Community College came from behind to defeat Trinidad State College 78-75 Monday night in the first round of the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship here at Hutchinson Arena.
The No. 12 seeded Eagles (29-5) advance to the second round, where they will play No. 5 seed Salt Lake Community College (29-4) Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.
Salt Lake CC, which received a first-round bye, finished as the NJCAA runner-up a year ago as it lost to Northwest Florida State in the title game.
TCC is one of three teams from the Panhandle Conference in the 24-team national tourney, joining defending champion NWFS and Chipola College.
No. 7 seed NWFS received a first-round bye and is scheduled to play Butler Tuesday night.
No. 9 seed Chipola won its opening game Monday, beating Cape Fear 96-66, and is scheduled to play No. 8 Midland in a second-round game Tuesday.
TCC trailed Trinidad State College 44-34 at halftime and 75-70 with 1:06 remaining.
“I’m extremely happy and proud of those guys,” TCC head coach Rick Cabrera said.
“Being down 10 at halftime, I put some pressure on them in the locker room. To their credit they upped their ante on the defensive end.”
Trinidad State shot 7-for-13 from three in the first half. The Eagles held them to just two made threes in the second half, and only 11 total made field goals.
TCC trailed for most of the game, and found itself down five points with just over a minute left in the second half.
Malachi Davis hit a three with 59 seconds left to make it a two-point game. Trinidad State took 30 seconds off the clock after Davis’s three, but TCC forced a shot clock violation to get it back with 27 seconds remaining.
Davis brought the ball up and was fouled with 23 seconds left. He made the first free throw to cut the Trojans’ lead to just one but missed the second. There was a mad dash for the rebound, but it was Tom Mark who jumped out of the way after a Trinidad State player attempted to throw the ball at him.
It bounced between Mark’s legs and into the hands of Davis who drove to the basket, scored and was fouled in the process. Trinidad State star guard Dejour Reaves missed a three-pointer with four seconds left, and Isaiah Cathey iced the game with a free throw at the other end.
“That’s not coaching,” said Cabrera when asked about the hectic final seconds, “that’s just strictly toughness.”
Davis finished with 31 points.
“I’ve said it from day one,” said Cabrera, “in my opinion he’s the most talented guard in the country and he proved that. He’s allowed to make mistakes, even though they drive me crazy, but he’s allowed to make mistakes because I know he’ll make up for them.”
Ja’Quavian Florence added 17 points, with a chunk of those coming from three second half threes. He also recorded seven rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Tom Mark finished with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting. He protected the rim as well, tallying three blocks.
The win was Cabrera’s 150th of his head coaching career.
Wednesday’s game against Salt Lake will be the first-ever matchup between the two programs.
A win would put TCC in the quarterfinals against the winner of Moberly and Dodge City.
It would also mark the fourth 30-win season in program history.
TCC Baseball
The Eagles (19-9 overall, 2-3 Panhandle Conference) won their second consecutive conference game Monday with a 25-14 win at Gulf Coast State College.
TCC trailed 6-0 after two innings.
However, it surged in front with seven runs in the third inning and six in the fourth. The Eagles put the game out of reach with 10 runs in the seventh inning.
TCC finished with 15 hits.
Shortstop Jesus Vanegas went 4-for-6 with a home run; catcher Marco Dinges had two home runs and five RBI; and designated hitter Brett Gwinn had two home runs with four RBI.
The Eagles are at home today against Gulf State College at 5 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: TCC men's basketball to face Salt Lake CC in 2nd round of national tourney
