Titan Men Beat Miami Dade to Get Closer to Conference Title

Eastern Florida's men's basketball team took a big step toward its fourth consecutive FCSAA Southern Conference championship on Tuesday with a 71-62 victory over Miami Dade College.

The victory at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus improved Eastern Florida's conference record to 10-0. The Titans are 22-3 overall.

Miami fell to 4-6 and 14-11.

The Titans have now beaten every Southern Conference team twice giving it the tiebreaker if necessary. Five conference games remain.

The Titans can clinch the title with a victory at 4 p.m. Saturday at Palm Beach State in Lake Worth. Palm Beach, 5-4 and in second place in the conference, hosts Indian River State, also 5-4, on Wednesday. The top two conference teams advance to the postseason NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament.

Tuesday's victory was a struggle late for the Titans who led 52-30 with 10 minutes and 45 seconds to play.

But Miami Dade chipped away as the game turned into a free throw contest. The Sharks got to within 61-50 with 3:23 to go. It was 65-55 with a minute to play and 69-61 with 16.9 seconds remaining.

Eastern Florida finished 16-for-29 from the free throw line and Miami Dade 19-for-33.

"They're a good team, we knew they were going to make their run," said Eastern Florida freshman point guard C.J. Jackson who led the Titans with 20 points.

"We just had to play good early and just play together," added Jackson who Tuesday was honored as the NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Week.

"We bounced back in the second half and most importantly got the win."

As for the large number of fouls: "You've definitely have to adjust when the whistles a little tighter than usual. Both teams are good teams and it was a well-played game."

Sophomores B.J. Gladden and Djordje Beronja added 18 and 16 points respectively for the Titans.

Eastern Florida head coach Jeremy Shulman praised his defense which held Miami Dade to 17 first-half points.

"Our defensive effort was unbelievable," Shulman said. "They ended up with 61 that's only because of the free throws at the end. We preach it constantly, that you have to win games with defense and with rebounding and loose balls and transition defense, all the little things that are really big things. We did not make shots tonight, we did not make free throws but we still honestly played fantastic because of our defensive effort. It was gutsy, it was gritty."

Eastern Florida entered the game ranked second in Florida and 11^th nationwide.

"It's game by game, possession by possession," Shulman said of his team's run to 10-0, the first time it has reached that milestone in conference in his six years at EFSC.

"We try to get better every day in practice. Every day we try to get a little bit better and that's how you end up with a 10-0 conference record."

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: Mark DeCotis, Athletic Communications

Office: 321-433-5700   Cell: 321-759-4540   Email: decotism@easternflorida.edu