Huge Second Half Sends Northwest Florida Into Championship Game
HUTCHINSON, KS – WHAT….A….COMEBACK!! An unbelievable game was capped off with an unbelievable comeback from the Northwest Florida State College men’s basketball team. After trailing the majority of the night, the Raiders dug in and rallied in a big time way to defeat Triton College on Friday night, 68-64, to advance to the NJCAA National Championship game on Saturday night at 6:00 PM (CST)!
Triton entered the semifinals featuring a red-hot offense that had propelled them to the Final Four after defeating several national title contenders. For the duration of the first half, the Raiders got a first hand glimpse of their explosiveness as Triton scored 40 points in the period behind tough shot making from everywhere on the court.
To Northwest Florida’s credit, however, the onslaught did not result in a runaway first half. The Raiders responded with spurts of their own and kept it to a manageable 8-poin
Defensively, NWF was absolutely stellar in the second half. After scoring 40 points in the first 20 minutes, Triton only managed 24 points in the final 20 minutes thanks to a tenacious effort by the Raiders. Northwest Florida limited Triton to just 33% shooting from the field and 12% from 3-point land. That effort allowed the Raiders to steadily climb back, and climb back they emphatically did.
Down the stretch, the offensive execution was fantastic. Issa Muhammad was a machine around the basket, converting 9-14 from the field and scoring 18 points along with snatching 12 rebounds for the game. Muhammad was the recipient of great dribble penetration by the Raider guards. Perhaps the biggest play of the game was a Muhammad alley-oop with a minute remaining to put the Raiders up for good. NWF’s backcourt was also huge by making timely shots and continuing to put pressure on the Triton defense by breaking down their defense.
In addition to Muhammad’s game-high 18 points, the Raiders also got huge efforts from Tre Clark who scored 12, and a trio ofDeshawdre Washington, Brennan Rigsby, and Kam Woods each added nine.
Triton (30-6) was led by Cobie Montgomery’s 15. Teonta McKeithen, the teams leading scorer for the season, normally a 42% shooter from long range, went 3-11 (27%), totaled 11, and Daylan Hamilton ended with 10. Brandon Muntu was team high 7 rebounds.
Northwest Florida will play for the national title vs. Salt Lake Community College on Saturday, March 19 at 6:00 PM (CST). The Raiders have two national titles to their credit, the first one was under the former name of Okaloosa-Walton CC in 1995. The other was in 2015.
