Men's basketball team upends No. 12 CSI at Battle for the Boot Tournament

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team defeated No. 12 College of Southern Idaho to advance to the championship game of the Battle for the Boot Tournament.

The Titans, who are now 3-0 on the season, edged CSI 77-75 in a wild finish that saw Corey Caulker hit two free throws to seal the win. Eastern Florida State College advanced to play No. 1 South Plains for the title at 6 p.m. EST Saturday.

Eastern Florida State College took a six-point advantage with 58.7 seconds left on two made free throws from Caulker. He would make two more big ones with 28 seconds left to keep the Titans out front. But none were bigger than when he went to the line with nine seconds left after CSI hit a 3-pointer to tie game. He hit both and the defense kept the Golden Eagles from getting a shot off as the buzzer sounded.

The first half was all Titans as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead behind a couple of quick baskets from Chandler Watts. The lead would reach 10 at 27-17 on a Felipe Patino 3-pointer and kept that advantage until CSI made a 7-0 run to finish the first half, cutting the Titans lead to one, 35-34 at halftime on a running 3-pointer at the buzzer.

It would remain tight as Fredy-Salam Sylla came up big time after time for the Titans in the second half, scoring 13 of his 22 in the second half. Sylla also grabbed 11 rebounds to finish with his second straight double-double of the season. Emondrek Erkins-Ford had 14 points and four blocks while Watts finished with 10.

No. 1 South Plains defeated Monroe University in the other semifinal 80-74. Monroe University will play CSI for third place on Saturday.