It’s The Commodores In The South Atlantic District Championship – North
(Hutchinson, KS-March 25, 2026) – In the Region 8 championship (aka The State Tournament) and South Atlantic Championship, all four of the Semifinalist made it to the National Tournament.
Chipola, the Champion, auto-qualified. The other three, Northwest Florida State, Daytona State and Gulf Coast State all got into the field at Hutch via the At-Large process.
Both Northwest and Gulf Coast lost in the semifinals to Chipola and Daytona respectively.
In this years National Championship, Region 8 finalist Chipola and Daytona State have already been eliminated. Thus leaving the two semifinal losers still alive at Hutch.
During the regular season Panhandle Conference schedule, these two teams had played three times, with the Raiders from Not-So-Niceville winning two of them, once at Billy Harrison Fieldhouse in Panama City.
The fourth and final in the series was the game that counted, and after 45 minutes, of game action Gulf Coast evens the score with a 99-91 overtime conquest of their Panhandle rivals.
Gulf Coast State took a short lead into half, 39-38, and lost the second half 47-46 sending the game to the extra stanza tied at 85.
After leading for 35 plus minutes of the game, in which there were 8 lead changes and 9 ties, the Commodores grabbed the first lead in the overtime and never let go.
Outscoring the Raiders 14-8, Gulf Coast will make their second appearance in the final four, in this, their fourth trip to Hutch. The other time was in 1972.
Led by Trent Lincoln and his 28 points, 8 dish outing, and Jabari Quarterman and his 26 points 6 rebound game, GCSC (28-7) will be taking on College of Southern Idaho in the second semifinal game Friday, at 8:00. Gulf Coast, at #14, is the only member of the final four who was not a top four seed.
Northwest, DJ Shine, did just that pumping in 26 to carry the Raiders (15-16 from the line). Damarion Vann-Kelly found his way to 18. The Raiders were able to stay in the game via their productivity from the charity stripe going 32-43 while their counterparts only attempted 23, successful on 15.
