NICEVILLE, Fla. (March 11, 2023) - One of the most hotly-contested tournaments in recent memory had a fitting ending on Saturday when Northwest Florida State College claimed the FCSAA Men's Basketball Championship with an 89-85 win over Tallahassee Community College.

Thursday's first quarterfinal matchup between Eastern Florida State College and Daytona State College produced an eight-point victory for the Titans - and that proved to be the largest margin of victory in the tournament's seven games. The remaining three quarterfinal pairings were decided by six, two and one point - in that order. Eastern Florida State was on the other end of an eight-point margin in Friday's first semifinal - a 70-62 loss to Tallahassee - while Northwest Florida State-Chipola College, Part IV, went down to the wire before the Raiders pulled out a six-point victory. 

Saturday was also the fourth meeting of the season between the longtime Panhandle Conference rivals and yielded another thriller. 

Seven ties and 13 lead changes punctuated the final, which saw the Raiders take a 40-37 lead to the half. 

Tallahassee led by as many as seven (69-62) before a 20-5 run by the Raiders swung the momentum and seemingly sealed the outcome. Tallahassee, however, scored the next six points to pull within 82-80 and later forced a pair of turnovers with the Raiders clinging to a two-point lead. The Eagles couldn't convert either opportunity and a pair of free throws by Kasean Pryor sealed the win. 

Pryor and the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Chad Baker-Mazara, finished with 20 points each. 

See the complete FCSAA All-Tournament Team

Malachi Davis scored a game-high 33 points for Tallahassee.

Northwest Florida earned Region 8's automatic bid to the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championships in Hutchinson, Kan., March 20-25, and received the No. 7 seed.

Chipola (No. 9) and Tallahassee (No. 12) earned two of the eight at-large bids into the 24-team field.