Men's basketball team defeats Daytona State, takes conference lead

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team took hold of the Citrus Conference with a victory over No. 3 Daytona State College on Wednesday night.

The No. 16 ranked Titans handed Daytona State College its second conference loss with a 76-62 victory on WEFS-TV at Titan Field House. Eastern Florida State College won both meetings with the Falcons and moved into a tie for first place as the Titans are now 11-2 while both the Falcons and Florida Southwestern are 10-2.

Tied 9-9, Eastern Florida State College went on a 12-0 run as Afan Trnka and Matija Zuzic each hit 3-pointers to start the run. Daytona State College would cut the lead to five points but Matus Malovecs scored five straight points and then Trnka hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Titans went into halftime leading 40-22.

A Carlos Cortijo basket early in the second half gave the Titans a 45-24 lead. It looked as if the Titans would cruise to victory, but Daytona State would cut the lead to single digits and RJ Moore hit two free throws to cut it to seven with 7:56 left.

But once again Eastern Florida State College Owen Aquino started a quick 8-0 run and the lead was back to 16 points.

Zuzic and Cortijo each scored 17 points in the win with Aquino finishing with 14 points.

Eastern Florida State College will be back at home Saturday afternoon against Miami Dade College. The conference game will begin at 4 p.m. at Titan Field House and admission is free. The game can also be seen live online at the EFSC Titans YouTube page.