Men's basketball team wins fifth straight Southern Conference title

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team cut down the nets for the fifth straight season, wrapping up the Southern Conference title with a 117-86 win against Miami Dade Tuesday night at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus.

"I am speechless, it is such an unbelievable group and we faced so much adversity this year but we just fought through time and time again and found a way to win our fifth straight title. It is special," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said. "We knew it was going to a high-paced game and we didn't defend initially the way I wanted to defend and then when we finally started defending and rebounding the way I wanted, that led to our offense and the points came in a hurry after that."

The game was tight for the first half but the Titans began pulling away, finishing on a 10-4 run behind Kareem Brewton, who scored 28 of his career-high 36 points in the first half.

"Coach said to go out and do what I do best and that is what I did. I got my teammates involved early and found open shots," said Brewton who was one of three sophomores playing for the final time at Titan Field House. "Honestly, I wasn't even counting my points, I just wanted to get the win. Fifth in a row, that is what we wanted and we got it."

Up 15 at the break, the Titans came out firing in the second half, scoring 12 points in the first two and a half minutes and cruised to the fifth straight conference title.

Brewton, Austin Awad who finished with 17 points and Joan Duran were all recognized after the win and then cut down the nets.

Ahmed Ali finished with 20 points including six 3-pointers and Shaq Carter had 18 points.

The Titans, who are now 26-4 overall and finish the conference season 12-3, will advance to the 2017 FCSAA/NJCAA Region VIII Men's Basketball Championship beginning March 9 in Ocala. The winner of that tournament will punch a ticket to the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.