Men's basketball team's comeback falls short at Indian River

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team fell for the first time in 10 games Saturday evening.

The No. 13 ranked Titans battled back from two big deficits but could not beat Indian River State College, falling 83-71 in a Citrus Conference game.

Eastern Florida State College is now 10-2 in the conference and 22-4 overall.

The two teams traded leads for the first eight minutes of the contest, but the Pioneers went on a 9-0 run to lead 28-16. Owen Aquino dominated the first half as the Titans fought back into the contest in the final eight minutes of the first half. Aquino hit a basket and was fouled, completing the three-point play and cut the lead to five. AJ Walker would make a free throw and the Titans trailed 42-38 at halftime.

Aquino had 19 points in the first half for the Titans.

But Indian River State College would quickly take the lead back to a 14-point lead. It would reach 18 points with 13 minutes left before Matija Zuzic hit his second 3-pointer of the game. It would help spark another run that saw the Titans slowly cut into the lead.

Zuzic would hit another 3-pointer and the lead was down to seven, 67-60. From there, Luca Colceag scored four straight and it was down to 69-65. After a free throw by Indian River, Zuzic cut it to three with a basket. But a big 3-pointer by Indian River helped keep the lead and the Pioneers hit a couple more down the stretch to lock up the win.

Aquino finished with 29 points which tied his season high, while Zuzic finished with 11 points.

Eastern Florida State College will play Daytona State College Wednesday night at Titan Field House in a battle of the top two teams in the conference. Wednesday's game will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will be live locally on WEFS-TV, channel 9 or 455 on Spectrum, 68 on DirecTV, 30 on Dish and 68 on AT&T Uverse. It will also be shown live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.