Duran leads men's basketball team past Indian River, into first place

Joan Duran made sure that the Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team took over first place in the Southern Conference Wednesday night.

Eastern Florida State College saw its 13-point lead disappear in the second half as Indian River State took the lead with three minutes and 40 seconds remaining in regulation. But Duran scored the next seven points including a big 3-pointer to give the Titans a 75-59 lead. Eastern Florida State College would go on to win 83-74.

"Coach (Jeremy) Shulman texted me and said we would be missing Austin tonight, he is such an important guy for us and I told him I would do whatever I could to help the team pick up the win," Duran said.

The sophomore did just that, finishing with a career-high 26 points in the game.

"We have so many talented guys, we can go 14 deep if we need to. Joan was amazing, I told him I needed him to step up. I said this is your game, I need you to step up and he sure did," Shulman said. "I am so proud of Joan and hopefully this is just a sign of things to come."

Michael Nuga also provided a spark off the bench for the Titans, scoring a season-high 14 points. Kareem Brewton had 10 points for the 21-3 Titans who are now 7-2 in the conference.

"We have a long way to go, we have to stay focused, continue practicing hard and have faith. Just have to go out and do what we do, play ball," Duran said.

Eastern Florida State will hit the road Saturday, playing Miami-Dade at 2 p.m. before hosting Palm Beach State on Tuesday night.