Indian River’s Second Half Surge Sinks NW Florida Raiders

St. Petersburg, FL (November 13, 2021) – In an early season match-up between a couple of the South Atlantic/Region 8 top guns, Indian River State and Northwest Florida State collided in St. Petersburg Gym, one of the two sites hosting this years Florida Juco Shootouts.

No. 6 Northwest Florida State, 3-0, has been a mainstay as a basketball powerhouse in the last ten years, not only in Florida, but nationally as well. The Raiders had qualified for Hutch 8 times in the last twelve years. Exiting as Champs in 2015, and making several other deep runs to the quarterfinals and final four during that period.

After a two sup-par seasons, the Raiders brought in Greg Heiar to be their new Head Coach. Heiar brought plenty of DI experience as an assistant, and a resume that boasted a five year stint at leading Chipola College. At Chipola, Heiar accumulated 164 wins, five Panhandle Conference Championships, and four trips to the National Tournament. Very familiar with the strength of competition in the Region, this isn’t his first rodeo in the Florida Collegiate Systems Athletic Association circuit.

Under Head Coach Charlie Wilson, Indian River made the schools first National Tournament appearance last season. In what was the most successful season in program history, the Pioneers, getting the team’s first ever win at Nationals over Dawson CC (another first timer), IRSC also beat perennial power South Plains in the second round, before bowing out in the quarterfinals to Chipola.

Wilson took control at The River in 2015, inheriting a team who went winless in the Southern Conference before his arrival. Now in his seventh term as Head Coach, Wilson has 119 victories to his credit and four straight 20-win seasons. Named Southern Conference Coach of the Year 3 times in last four years, his teams have qualified for the NJCAA Region 8 Tournament four years running.

So, this game is kind of a representation of the old guard, NWF, with a new Head Coach, vs. the new guard. Well, at least one of the new guards.

Northwest trailed 5-0 right out of the gate, but IRSC stayed on that point total for several minutes. That gave the Raiders time to get their sea legs, eventually building a 17 point cushion, 34-17, with five minutes to go in the half.

The Pioneers put together a 9-0 mini run, which helped them get under that magical ten point barrier heading into the break, trailing 39-30.

Northwest Florida maintained a comfortable lead thru most of the second half, and lead 65-53 with under nine minutes left. Still holding a ten point advantage with just over 5 play, that was when the Pioneers started their comeback. Jonathan Cisse (6’2″ SO G, Lafayette, LA) buried a left wing trey, to make the score 69-62.

Down 7 at the 4:20 mark, Doug Young (6’7″ FR G from Houston, TX) nailed a huge three from the right wing to pull the Pioneers within four, 71-67. Those two triples, from Cisse and Young seemed to be the spark Indian River need to propel them down the stretch.

The tide turned for good against the Raiders when an old fashion three-point-play by Tyeree Bryan put Indian River over the top. Trailing by 2, 71-69, with 2:38 remaining, Bryan got third chance points on a stick back off glass and was fouled. Good on his FT, the 6’6″ FR from Orlando, had just given IRSC the lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Young hit another three from the right corner with 90 ticks to go, proving to be the winning points. That made the score 77-73 IRSC. But the game was far from over, plenty of time, possessions, chances and weird things were to pursue over the next 1.5 minutes.

First, Northwest’s DeShawndre Washington scored a lay-up to cut the IRSC lead to 2, 77-75, at the 1:22 mark.

Then reliable PG Cajuste dribbled on the baseline when IRSC was looking to extend their lead, giving it back to the Raiders with 1:05 on the clock. Tre Clark for NW missed a 12′ baseline right jumper he’ll make 80% of the time.

Still a one possession game, NWF allowed the Pioneers to dribble the shot clock down to :04 when Cajuste launched a top of key three that only hit the floor. IRSC grabbed the rebound, tossed it back in where they got another short shot baseline left that was also rimless. Buzz…shot clock violation. Raiders ball, 24 seconds left.

Washington brought the ball into front court, looking to find a seam to drive the lane. Indian River wasn’t going to allow it, having a couple of players trapping his every move. Washington had made the last 8 points of the game for the Raiders.

Washington found Woods at the top of the key and he missed a running shot from the lane. 6’10” FR C from Gary, IN., Mason Nichols, secured the rebound but had his point blank shot blocked from behind Bendji Pierre. On the third try, Clark was fouled on his shot from underneath the basket and would go to the line to shoot 2 with 3.3 seconds left, still trailing by only two.

Then more weirdness. Clark, shooting 57% on FG and 39% from three, he was only hitting 40% of his free tosses so far this year. Clark missed the first. Time out NWF. Needing two points, with very little time, and only one FT coming, the Raiders needed to design something to have another chance to win or tie without relinquishing possession of the ball.

Did I mention weirdness? When played resumed, Clark never even got the second FT fired. During his delivery, the Raiders committed a lane violation, turning the ball back over to the Pioneers.

AJ Cajuste received the inbound pass and alluded getting fouled until .3 seconds remained. Cajuste hit both shots to give Indian River their final four point margin, 79-75.

Northwest had led for 33 minutes in the contest, the final 15 in the first half, and the first 18 in the second. However, after building their biggest lead of 17, NWF was outpointed the 13-5 in the final 5:00 of the first half, and 49-36 in the final period. With the loss, the Raiders fall to 3-1.

Tre Clark (6’3″ SO G from Covington, GA) led the way for Northwest Florida with 17 points and four steals, adding 3 helpers. Kam Woods was next at 16. Brennan Rigsby and Deshawndre Washington both finished with a dozen. Washington added a team high 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

Indian River moves to 5-1, and is on a four game winning streak. After a loss in the second game of the season to Tallahassee 89-82, the Pioneers have reeled off consecutive victories over four Region 8 opponents.

The River also had four double figure performers. AJ Cajuste (6’1″ SO PG, Boca Raton, FL) had a game high 19, followed by Bendji Pierre (6’8″ FR F from Invington, NJ) with 16. Kyle Feit (6’4″ SO G, also from Boca Raton) and Tyeree Barnes ended up with 14 and 12 respectively.

Already billed for years as being one of the top two or three regions in the country, it looks like Region 8 will be a dog fight again this year. With nine or ten teams off to good starts, it should be real fun to watch things unfold in the Sunshine State. At the rate things are going, with teams knocking each other off, upsets included (on the national scene too), the District Champ might have 6 losses or more this year.