EFSC to host one of top JUCO events in country

For the second straight year, 45 of the best Junior College basketball players from around the country will be competing at Eastern Florida State College on the Melbourne campus in the JA45 event.

The JA45 will be held on Thursday and Friday at Titan Field House with practice sessions Thursday morning and the first game scheduled for noon.

The game will be full regulation games with three games on Thursday and three more on Friday.

Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman will be the coach of one of the six teams and opens at 2 p.m. Thursday against the team coached by John A. Logan head coach Kyle Smithpeters.

Titans sophomore Jonathan Ned, who averaged 9.8 points per game in 36 games as a freshman, will play in the first game of the event at noon on Thursday, playing for Western Nebraska head coach Cory Fehringer's team against Team Plona, coached by Indian Hills Community College head coach Hank Plona.

Shulman's group will meet Team Smithpeters at 2 p.m. and then a pair of Titans will face off in the 4 p.m. game as Osayi Osifo will play for Angelina College head coach Nick Wade's team against Johnny Bernard and Team Latham led by Motlow College head coach Arthur Latham.

Osifo averaged four points and three rebounds in 33 games for the Titans while Bernard averaged five points in 34 games as a freshman.

"We are tremendously honored that the premier junior college All-American event in the entire country is right here at Eastern Florida State College again," Shulman said. "The best 45 players from all across the country will be playing in real games against each other. Brandon Goble at JucoAdvocate does a phenomenal job with the event, which has been compared to the Peach Jam of JUCO basketball."

Admission to Eastern Florida State College for the event is free.