EFSC MEN BEAT ASA MIAMI
Eastern Florida's men's basketball team made it look easy on Wednesday.
The Titans raced to a 56-18 halftime lead and cruised to a 92-62 victory over ASA Miami at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus.
Eastern Florida improved to 3-0 in the FCSAA Southern Conference and 15-3 overall. ASA fell to 0-3 in the conference and 1-13 overall.
The victory for the Titans sets up an early conference showdown on Saturday against Indian River State College, which also is 3-0. The Pioneers are 12-4 overall.
Tipoff is 4 p.m. at the Titan Field House.
The Titans made quick work of things against ASA, bolting to a 36-6 lead in the game's first 12 minutes and 15 seconds, leaving no doubt of the outcome.
Freshman and Melbourne High product Austin Awad led the Titans in the first half with 13 points.
"I've had a tough season with injuries so far, I'm coming off of them and I'm hoping to have a healthy rest of the season," said Awad.
"I'm just excited to get the win tonight. All of our conference games are really tough. We're in a tough conference, one of the best in the whole nation. We have another tough game Saturday so we came out trying to get a W.
"There's confidence in it (victory) but we have to be careful that we don't get over confident."
Freshman Kareem Brewton, the NJCAA Region 8 player of the week and the Titans leading scorer, set the pace with 19 points. Classmates C.J. Jackson scored 17 and Richard Gaines 14.
Freshman Jalen Glover, playing his first game of the season, scored seven.
"ASA has played almost everybody close, at least from mid-November," said Eastern Florida head coach Jeremy Shulman.
"They're a well-coached team, they're a scrappy team. I was very, very pleased with our entire group the first half. For the first 25 minutes, we really guarded it. Our chemistry was good. The guys played their hearts out. I thought we executed.
"When you've got a big lead like that sometimes it's hard to keep the same intensity for the last 10 minutes for so. I thought we let up a little bit. Now we look forward to Saturday against Indian River."