Pioneers Win Back-To-Back Games Over Pensacola State

Tallahassee, Florida – The COVID-19 Virus has already caused some schedule issues for the Indian River State College (IRSC) Men's Basketball Team.  They were scheduled to travel to St. Petersburg College on January 20^th, but the home team had to cancel the game due to illness.  IRSC was able to add a game with Pensacola State on Friday in Tallahassee, which they were already scheduled to play on Saturday in the FCSAA Basketball Shoot-out. 

The first contest saw the Pioneers take an early 21-9 lead, but Pensacola State closed the gap and went into the half with the score tied at 26.  Pensacola had a definite height advantage with two players being 7'0" and 6'9", compared to IRSC's 6'7" Bryce Fitzgerald, 6'6" Mark-Anthony McReed, and 6'6" Nate Montaque.  Fitzgerald, McReed, and Montaque battled the much taller Pensacola State front line and held their own.  The game continued to be very physical with neither team being able to gain much of an advantage on the scoreboard.  Antrell Charlton hit a big three-point basket for IRSC making the score 55-52 with 4:18 remaining in the second half.  The Pioneers defense remained tough and a couple of big rebounds in the final minutes allowed IRSC to get the win 61-58. The Pioneers were led in scoring by Tanahj Pettway 23 and Linton Brown with 15 points. A.J. Cajuste dished out 5 assists and Charlton pulled down a team high 9 rebounds. 

On Saturday the teams squared off again in the same location in which they had just played 24 hours earlier. IRSC took the early lead on a Linton Brown three-point basket making the score 30-21.  The Pioneers went into the break with a 37-26 advantage.  Antrell Charlton stole the ball and passed to Abdoulaye Thiam who scored on a lay-up increasing IRSC's lead to 59-45.  Pensacola State cut into the lead, but the Pioneers continued to shoot the ball at a high percentage and went on to a 78-69 victory.  Jacob Jackson recorded his first double-double for IRSC with 18 points and 11 rebounds.  Other scorers for the Pioneers were Brown 15, Fitzgerald 13 and Charlton with 12 points.  The two wins were a good start to the season, "I was pleased with the effort we gave in both games, we shot much better in the second game, but there are several things we needed to improve on if we want to have a successful season", stated IRSC Head Coach Charlie Wilson.  IRSC will be in action on Tuesday, January 26^th at Daytona State College for a 6 p.m. tip.