Chipola plays Tuesday

The Chipola College men’s basketball program has eleven national tournament appearances—more than any other Florida community college team—but the national title has eluded the Indians for 61 years.

            Chipola (29-1) has a great opportunity to finish on top this year.  The Indians play unranked Seward County (KS) in the first round of the National NJCAA Men’s Tournament, Tuesday, March 18, at 8:30 p.m. (CST).  

            Chipola will need four wins to bring home the national championship trophy. The title game is set for Saturday, March 22, at 8 p.m.

            Chipola captured its fourth Florida/Region VIII championship in the last five seasons with an 89-78 win over Okaloosa-Walton on March 8.

            The Indians are led by Panhandle Player of the Year Mario Little, who also won tournament MVP honors with 24 points in the title game. He will play at the University of Kansas next season.

            Seward captured the NJCAA Region VI championship with a 71-61 win over Cowley College. Seward is led by sophomore Darko Cohadarevic (tournament MVP) who scored 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds.
            Chipola finished runner-up in the 2007 National Tournament, matching the Indians’ other second place finish in 1975.

            Tournament information is available at [ http://www.njcaabbtrny.org/ ]http://www.njcaabbtrny.org/ All Chipola games will be broadcast on WJAQ-100.9 FM in Marianna. The broadcast may be accessed via internet through a link on [ http://www.chipola.edu/ ]www.chipola.edu

          The Indians will depart from the Milton H. Johnson Health Center, Saturday, March 15, at 10 a.m. The team will travel by bus to Atlanta for a Sunday morning flight to Witchita, KS.