Men's basketball team tops Spartanburg Methodist in FSW tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team had a big second half to hand Spartanburg Methodist their first loss at the FSW Turkey Day Classic in Fort Myers Friday.

The Titans, who are ranked fourth in the nation, improved to 5-0 on the season with the 86-79 victory.

Spartanburg Methodist finished the first half on a run and went into the locker room leading 45-36 but the Titans scored 50 points in the second half to pick up the win.

Freshman Derrick Butler had another big day for the Titans, scoring 26 points and grabbing nine rebounds while Reggie Hill had 15 and Roberts Berze and Vlad Salaridze each finished with 14 points. 

The Titans shot 50 percent from the floor and the bench scored 48 points in the game.

Spartanburg Methodist fell to 5-1 on the season. The Titans will play No. 20 Snow College, who lost to host and No. 19 Florida Southwestern 67-53 in the other game Friday. The Titans will play Snow College at noon while Spartanburg Methodist will play Florida Southwestern at 2 p.m.