Men's basketball team opens regular season on road Friday

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team opens the 2019 regular season this weekend at the FSW Tip-Off Classic in Fort Myers.

The Titans open the season No. 5 in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll and No. 2 in the NJCAA Region 8 preseason poll. They will tip off the new season against Hinds Community College Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs were 11-12 last season and return four players who saw significant playing time, which includes two of their top scorers from last season.

Seven players are back from last year's team that made it to the Elite Eight of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament including Jonathan Ned who made the second team all Mid-Florida Conference team. Teammates Osayi Osifo and Mikal Starks played well in the JA45 event over the summer and all three have already committed to SEC schools next year.

On Saturday the Titans will face No. 3 Florida Southwestern in an early-season showdown of top five teams in the nation. The game is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Saturday at Florida Southwestern.

Both games can be seen live online at fsw.edu/livestream.