Heiar Reaches Career Win #100: Indians Hold Back Brunswick

November 16, 2007

By Chipola Staff

Fourth year head coach Greg Heiar will remember this game for quite some time. And not just because he earned his 100th career win as the Indians knocked off Brunswick 70-57 in the Georgia Perimeter Thanksgiving Classic on Friday.

“We did not play our best basketball,” said Heiar, “But we found a way to win ugly.”

Indeed, this was not a game that saw the nation’s top ranked team perform flawlessly. To the contrary, Chipola looked a little bit sluggish as it improved to 5-0 on the season.

“We turned the basketball over way too much,” said Heiar. “I just thought that we didn’t play with the same type of energy that we had during our first four games.”

Chipola committed 23 turnovers in the game, 13 during the opening half of play. However, Brunswick could not take advantage of the loose play from the Indians, as Chipola found itself with a 28-21 lead going into the half.

The brightest spot of the game for Chipola was arguably sophomore Mario Edwards. He scored a team high 13 points in the first half, 17 for the game, helping the Indians maintain an early lead.

“I thought Mario was very good tonight,” said Heiar. “He had a great week of practice and he came out and played aggressive basketball. Without that early spark, we may have been in some serious trouble.”

The Indians were able to extent their halftime lead, widening the margin to 50-31 with just 9:21 to play the game. That’s when freshman Jon Kreft fouled out, leaving a noticeable gap in the Chipola frontcourt.

“Jon played well for us,” said Heiar. “I thought his size and ability to alter shots gave us an advantage in the second half run. Without having Joey (Cameron) available, we really missed having that bigger body in the paint down the stretch.”

Cameron had started the first four games of the year, but played just 1:41 against Brunswick due to a nagging injury.

“Really, I’m just proud of this team for finding a way to win,” said Heiar. “Now we need to get ready for tomorrow, hopefully with more emotion and a greater sense of urgency.”

Sophomore Mario Little led the Indians in scoring on the night with 21 points. He also added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks.

Sophomore Malik Alvin scored 13 points and had four rebounds.

Freshman Gary Flowers finished the night with a career high 14 rebounds to go along with his 7 points and 5 blocked shots.

“A lot of great people have contributed to the successes of Chipola basketball,” added Heiar. “I just want to thank all of those people for their support during these first 111 games that I’ve been coach. I look forward to us continuing on with the great tradition of Chipola basketball on the court and in the classroom.”

The Indians resume action Saturday against USC Salkehatchie at 1:00 pm CST.