Men's basketball team opens Men's Basketball Championship Wednesday

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team will open the FCSAA Men's Basketball Championships Wednesday night as the No. 1 seed.

The Titans, who come into the tournament 26-4 on the season, will play No. 8 seed Hillsborough Community College at 7 p.m. EDT at Northwest Florida State College.

"I think the committee did a really good job seeding the state tournament this year. But overall, I'm just glad to have the opportunity to compete on Wednesday," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said.

Eastern Florida State College won the first two meetings against the Hawks this season, winning by an average of 12 points. The teams met in the final regular season game of the season and Carlos Cortijo had one of his best games, scoring 18 points and eight assists. Owen Aquino is averaging 12 points per game against the Hawks while Luca Colceag and Emondrek Erkins-Ford each averaged 10.5 points in the two meetings.

Hillsborough Community College comes into the contest 18-12 and beat Miami Dade College twice in a row, including in the play-in game to earn the spot in the tournament. Dominic Gooden has had a couple of good games against the Titans, averaging 21 points and six rebounds and Gooden comes into the tournament leading Region 8 in scoring, averaging 26.4 points per game this season.

"Hillsborough is an outstanding team that is both well coached and talented," Shulman said. "They have multiple Division I players and players who can really, really score. Obviously, Gooden is the leading scorer in the state but they also have the leading rebounder (Camerin James 10.6 rebounds per game) and four guys averaging at least 15 points per game. It's always a challenge beating a team three times, but we are excited for the challenge."

Wednesday's game at Northwest Florida State College will be the third of the four quarterfinals on Wednesday. General admission tickets for games at Northwest Florida State College are $15 per day and $40 for the tournament. Tickets can be purchased online here or at the Raider Arena Box Office. Games will also be shown live here.