Men's basketball team opens state tournament vs SCF Manatee on Thursday

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team is back in the FCSAA State Tournament for the seventh straight season and eighth time in head coach Jeremy Shulman's tenure with the Titans.

And once again the men's bracket is stacked with six of the eight teams in the tournament ranked in the NJCAA Division I top 25.

The Titans, who come into the tournament on a nine-game win streak and No. 18 in the poll, will play the State College of Florida Manatee in the first round Thursday at 8 p.m.

"I am glad we are there, so we are one of eight teams that have an opportunity to win it," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said. "We are not just happy to be there, we are going to go out and do everything we can to win that first game. We want to go 1-0, then go 1-0 in the semifinals and then go 1-0 in the finals and hopefully cut down some more nets."

The teams have not met this season, but Manatee's head coach Tom Parks was an assistant coach with the Titans last season when the Titans went to the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament semifinals.

Overall, the Titans are 3-0 in the series over the past five seasons.

Eastern Florida State College has been to the championship game three times under Shulman but is looking for his first state championship. The quest begins Thursday night at the College of Central Florida in Ocala at 8 p.m. with the championship game scheduled for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the College of Central Florida and costs $10 for adults and $6 for students. All of the games will also be shown live online.