Ellis ties career-high in win over St. Pete

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (January 30, 2021) – El Ellis matched his career-high with 34 points in NJCAA No. 3/Region 8 No. 1 Tallahassee Community College's 85-66 win over St. Petersburg College on Saturday afternoon at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome. 

Tallahassee is now 4-0 heading into Monday's 7 p.m. visit from South Georgia Technical College. 

Ellis scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half, as the Eagles outscored St. Petersburg, 49-29, to erase the Titans' 37-36 halftime lead. 

Ellis simply took over when the teams came out of the locker room. A trio of three-pointers accounted for half of the 18 points he scored in the first 10 minutes of the half, the last of which capped a 20-5 run over a four-minute stretch and gave the Eagles a 65-50 lead with 10:46 remaining. 

St. Petersburg never got closer than 13 the remainder of the game. 

Two other Eagles joined Ellis in double-figures – Jeremiah Kendall with 13 and DeAngelo Ware with 10. 

Tallahassee looked poised to run away early on, jumping out to a 15-5 lead less than five minutes in, but St. Petersburg scored the next 12 points to take its first lead, 17-15, at the 13:25 mark of the first half. 

St. Petersburg shot 61.9 percent (13-of-21) from the field in the first half and took a one-lead to the intermission. 

The second half was a different story, where Tallahassee was a model of efficiency on both ends. Offensively, the Eagles hit 11-of-19 field goal attempts, including 5-of-7 threes, and knocked down 22-of-26 free throw attempts. They also put the clamps on the Titans defensively, limiting the visitors to 7-of-26 shooting. 

The teams combined for 58 fouls and 75 free throw attempts. Tallahassee hit 32-of-40 while St. Petersburg was just 23-of-35. 

Monday's game can be seen on TCCeagles.com/LIVE.