Men's basketball team falls short in Region VIII Semifinals

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team fell short in the semifinals of the Region VIII Tournament Friday night at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville.

The Titans, who came into the tournament as the No. 7 seed, took No 3 seed Tallahassee Community College down to the wire in a 70-62 loss in the first men's semifinal.

Eastern Florida State College finishes the season 22-10 and have been in the Region VIII semifinals four of the past five seasons.

On Friday, the Titans jumped out to a 7-0 in the first three minutes and held onto that lead until the final three minutes of the first half.

The Titans defense stepped up, holding a Tallahassee team that came into the tournament averaging 84.2 points per game to 70.

Much like the first half, Eastern Florida State College would go on a seven-point run in the second half and led 50-43 with 12:49 remaining as Owen Aquino had back-to-back baskets and Demetrius Robinson hit a 3-pointer.

But Tallahassee would chip away at the lead once again and took the lead with four minutes and 11 seconds remaining.

The Titans had a couple of good looks down the stretch, but the 3-point shots were not falling like they did in the quarterfinal win over Daytona State College.

Andres Burney finished with 17 points while Augustin Kingombe had 11 points and Demetrius Robinson finished with 10.

The 22 wins marks the second straight season the Titans have finished with 22 wins.