Men's basketball team opens FCSAA Tournament Thursday afternoon

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team will open the FCSAA Tournament Thursday afternoon with some high expectations.

The Titans come in as the No. 3 seed and have won 23 games this season, 12 in the conference and will face the No. 6 seed Pensacola State College.

Pensacola finished tied for second with Gulf Coast State in the Panhandle Conference and is 20-11 overall this season.

The matchup features two of the top three defensive teams in the FCSAA as the Titans allow just 63.2 points per game and Pensacola State allows 64.5.

Nobody has been playing better than Caulker in the past seven games as the point guard is averaging 17 points per game and is hitting close to 60 percent of his 3-pointers.

"I feel good, I have been putting in the work after practice and before so I am starting to trust my shot and the team is giving me open looks, I just need to take them," said Caulker who was named to the All-FCSAA team.

Caulker and the Titans are looking to get back on track after an incident led to two forfeits and a three-game losing streak.

"I am excited, really happy to be back on the court with the guys. I missed it and it is always a good feeling to be on the court with these guys so I am happy to be back," Caulker said. "This tournament is big because we know we have to do well here in order to get to Hutch. Losing those two games has really motivated us in practice to go even harder."

 Teammate Fredy-Salam Sylla is averaging 13.5 points and 7.1 rebounds this season in 27 games and has scored at least 10 points in 12 of the past 13 games.

Defensively, the Titans will have to hold off a Pensacola offense that is averaging 70.6 points per game this season. The Pirates are led by Will Vasser comes into the postseason averaging 14.1 points per game.

The quarterfinals will begin at 4 p.m. EDT Thursday at Northwest Florida State College. Admission is $15 for the day, $40 for the tournament. Fans can also watch the game live online here - https://team1sports.com/fcsaa/?B=2265643

"We are all a big family and we like being together and want to keep playing – we know we have to win to do that," Caulker said.