Men's basketball team fights back, falls short against Shelton State

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team battled back from a slow start, but fell to No. 16 Shelton State Community College in the final game of the Jim Grimes Classic on Friday afternoon at Titan Field House.

The Titans, who were playing without two of their top three scorers, saw Shelton State come out red hot to gain a 24-point lead at halftime but the Titans stormed back to make it close down the stretch, losing 65-58.

The first half was all Bucs as the duo of Thaddeus Williams and Jaykwon Walton combined for 26 points as Shelton State shot 55 percent from the floor.

But the second half saw the Titans begin to chip away at that lead, using a 15-1 run late in the second half to cut the lead to nine with 4:27 remaining. They would cut it to seven on a Brandon Garcia basket but ran out of time, falling to 10-5 on the season.

Garcia led the Titans attack with 16 points and six assists while freshman Seal Osajivbe had his second straight strong performance, scoring 13 points and grabbing six rebounds. Second-year freshman Roberts Berze finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers.

The Titans outrebounded the Bucs 25-21 in the contest.

Walton and Williams each had 17 points for Shelton State who finished the Jim Grimes Classic 2-0 and are 10-3 on the season.

In the first game of the day, Southern Union State Community College held off a scrappy North Florida Prep team 75-57. Marcus Hill finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Bisons while North Florida Prep was led by Augustin Kingombe's 15 points.

Eastern Florida State College will open the Central Conference on Wednesday evening, travelling to the Florida State College at Jacksonville for a 7:30 p.m. game. The Titans will be back at Titan Field House next Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. conference game against Polk State College.