Men's basketball team loses to College of Central Florida on the road

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team lost a highly-contested battle with the College of Central Florida, falling 73-67 Wednesday night in front of a big crowd in Ocala.

The Titans fell to 6-4 in the Mid-Florida Conference and 17-11 overall with two games remaining in the regular season. 

Eastern Florida State College led 32-27 at halftime but the Patriots came out shooting, going on an 11-2 run until Calvin Poulina hit a 3-pointer with 16:28 remaining. From there the game remained tight for the next five minutes until Osayi Osifo had a big blocked shot on one end and Jonathan Ned hit a 3-pointer to give the Titans a 55-49 lead with 11:17 left. But the Patriots would battle back to tie the game 55-55.

The College of Central Florida would build another five-point lead with 5:21 remaining and held on for the win to claim the Mid-Florida Conference title, snapping Eastern Florida State College's two-year reign.

The Titans led by as many as 10 points three times in the first half, but the College of Central Florida went on a run to end the half to cut the lead to five.

Nick Alves led the Titans with 17 points, Jonathan Ned had 16 and Brody Boyer finished with 10 points in the game.

The Titans will host Daytona State College Saturday at 4 p.m. and it will be Sophomore Night at Titan Field House.