Men's basketball team wins eighth straight, beats St. Petersburg

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team won its eighth straight game, beating St. Petersburg in a Central Conference game Wednesday night at Titan Field House. 

The men's basketball team improved to 7-0 in the conference and are 9-2 overall after the 68-57 victory. It marks the second win this season against St. Petersburg.

Bryan Williams had a huge first half for St. Petersburg, scoring 12 points to help St. Petersburg go into halftime with a one-point lead, 30-29.

Eastern Florida State College came out in the second half with a purpose as Markus Harding hit back-to-back 3-pointers during a 7-2 run to begin the second half.

The game would remain close with Eastern Florida State College trailing 52-50 with 10 minutes remaining.  In the span of the next 10 minutes, the Titans would go on an 14-6 run in that 10-minute span.

Nick Alves had one of the plays of the night with a huge dunk with 10 minutes remaining to give the Titans a 59-51 lead.

St. Petersburg, who fell to 2-4 in the conference, could not stay with the Titans in the second half as the Titans outscored them 39-27. Bryan Williams led the team with 23 points.

"Just LOVE this team!! We are such a CONNECTED team," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said. "St. Pete is such an outstanding and well coached team, and for our guys to come out and play like that the second half ­-- I just don't have enough amazing things to say about our team!"

The Titans were led by Justin Reid's 15-point effort while teammates Vlad Salaridze and Ja'Darius Harris had 11 and 10 points respectively.

Due to COVID issues with opponents, the Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team will not be back on the court until Wednesday, March 3 at Daytona State College and will be back at Titan Field House March 6 at 2 p.m.