IRSC Men’s Basketball Compete At The Region 8 State Tournament

Niceville, Florida – The Florida College System Activities Association Athletics (FCSAA) Region 8 Tournament is traditionally one of the toughest post season basketball tournaments in the country and this year was no exception.  There were four teams in the field that were ranked in the National Junior College Athletic Association Top 25 with Indian River State College (IRSC) at #2, followed by Chipola College #7, Northwest Florida State College #11, and Florida Southwestern State College #14. 

IRSC was seeded #1 in the tournament and drew Tallahassee College in the first round.  Tallahassee had defeated the Pioneers earlier in the year 89-82.  IRSC held an early 11-4 lead when Bendji Pierre drilled a deep three.  Tallahassee came back strong and led 19-13, but the aggressive play by the Pioneers helped them build a 41-36 advantage at the half.  IRSC pushed the lead to 11 but Tallahassee would not go away and took the lead 74-72 with just over two minutes to play.  A.J. Cajuste helped IRSC to regain the lead and seal the victory as he went 13-16 at the free-throw line and scored a game high 31 points.  Kyle Feit also had a strong performance for the Pioneers scoring 16 points followed by Pierre with 15 and Jonathan Cisse with 10.

The win moved IRSC into the semi-finals to face Southern Conference foe Florida Southwestern College, setting up the same scenario from last season.  IRSC again won the Southern Conference Championship for the third straight year, but recently lost to Florida Southwestern 75-66 on March 16th.  IRSC was hot from behind the three-point arc and closed the half up 45-40.  The three previous games with Florida Southwestern were nailbiters and this contest was no different.  Florida Southwestern would not let up and the score was tied at 60 with just under 11 minutes to go in the second half.  IRSC kept attacking the basket and never relinquished the lead again and went on to a 90-82 victory.  Cajuste was a key factor again for the Pioneers as he scored 28 points and also surpassed the 1000-point mark in his career at IRSC.  Cisse was big again off the bench with 17 points, followed by Jacob Tracey 12 and Feit added 11.

The Pioneers headed to the championship game against Chipola College also a rematch from last season's game.  IRSC started off well staying even on the rebounding side of things against the much bigger Chipola team and led 36-33 at the half.  Chipola came out strong after the half and went on a 12-0 run and led 45-36.  IRSC battled back and cut the lead to one, 46-47, but that was as close as the game would be with Chipola going on to win 73-64. Double digit scorers for the Pioneers were Cajuste 18, Doug Young 16, and Pierre with 10 points.  A.J. Cajuste, Bendji Pierre, and Jonathan Cisse were all selected to the FCSAA Region 8 All-Tournament Team.