Men's basketball team loses on Day 1 of Josh Artis Classic

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team's second-half rally fell short as the Titans lost to Coastal Alabama-North Thursday in the Josh Artis Classic at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus.

The Titans, who are now 9-5 on the season, cut the lead to five points with eight minutes remaining but could not take the lead, losing 73-65.

Coastal Alabama jumped out to an early 23-9 lead, causing head coach Jeremy Shulman to call timeout. The team responded and cut the lead to eight, but Coastal Alabama-North held a 37-24 lead at halftime.

The lead would reach 15 points before the Titans staged the comeback, going on a 9-0 run to trail by just six points with 14:28 remaining. Bogdan Cret hit a huge 3-pointer to cut the lead to four points but that would be as close as the Titans would get.

In the final minutes, Eric Parnell hit a 3-pointer to make it a 10-point game with two minutes left and then Augustin Kingombe and Brandon Garcia both made shots to cut it to 69-63 with just under a minute remaining. But Coastal Alabama-North held on for the win.

Andres Burney, Brandon Garcia and Eric Parnell each finished with 13 points each. Seth Jones led Coastal Alabama-North with 16 points.

In the first game of the day, Southern Union State Community College held on for the one-point win as the two teams traded baskets down the stretch.

Pensacola State College had a look at the buzzer, but the shot missed giving Southern Union a 79-78 win.

Pensacola State led for much of the first half, but Southern Union pressured the Pirates into turnovers and got back into the game. They would lead 38-37 at halftime and each team would score 41 points in the second half.

Marcus Hill had 22 points while teammate Bryan Bayonne added 20 in the win for Southern Union. Pensacola State College was led by Zondrick Garrett's 17 points.

Coastal Alabama-North will play Pensacola State College at 2 p.m. and Southern Union State Community College will play the Titans at 4 p.m. Friday at Titan Field House.