Men's basketball team opens Region VIII Tournament Thursday

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team will open the Region VIII Tournament Thursday afternoon with a familiar opponent.

The Titans, who are the No. 7 seed at 21-9 on the season, will play No. 2 seed Daytona State College in the first quarterfinals game of the day at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville.

The two teams have played three times this season with the Falcons winning two of the three meetings.

"We definitely know them and they know us," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said. "They are a phenomenal team, they are an unbelievable offensive team. They are well coached,  Joey (Cantens) does an incredible job. They are also a very underrated defense, people don't realize how good they are defensively because the offense is so dangerous. They are a heck of a team, we are excited for the opportunity."

Andres Burney comes into the game leading the Titans, averaging 17 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and has been even better against conference teams, averaging 18.2 points and 10.1 rebounds.

Teammate Eric Parnell is averaging 10 points per game and is hitting 40 percent of his 3-pointers.

Daytona State College has won the past two meetings and come into the tournament 27-3 overall and have won 12 in a row. The Falcons last loss was to the Titans in the first meeting of the season.

Jacob Crews is averaging 20.1 points per game this season while Josue Grullon-German is averaging 14.9 points.

Thursday's game will tip off at 2 p.m. EDT in Niceville and tickets will be $35 for a four-day pass or $10 per session at the Northwest Florida State College gym. You can also watch the games live online via Emerald Coast TV.