Historic night pushes men's basketball team into Final Four

It was a historic night for the Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The Titans defeated Motlow State Community College 65-45 in the Elite Eight of the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament Thursday night to advance to the Final Four. The win was No. 30 on the season for Eastern Florida State College, which is a school record.

"It's a spectacular feeling to be in the Final Four," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said. "In the process, we have had basketball for over 70 years here and we just set an all-time school record with 30 wins in a season. That's a real, real special thing to me."

The 45 points allowed was a season low for the Titans, who once again came out in the second half with a stifling defense, holding Motlow State to eight points in the first 15 minutes of the second half and turning a five-point halftime lead into a 29-point lead.

"These guys, I am so blessed to be able to coach these guys. They are doing a tremendous job of coming out in the second half and guarding people," Shulman said.

Freshman Ahmed Ali had a career night as well, hitting eight 3-pointers to finish with a career-high 28 points. Ali was 8-of-11 from the 3-point line.

"The team did a good job of getting me the ball and I felt so confident. As soon as the ball left my hand I felt confident it was going in," Ali said. "I had my brother and my (former) coach in the stands for the first time, so it was special."

He also gave credit to teammate Kareem Brewton who finished with 11 points.

"Kareem did a really good job of telling me all night when we were getting back on defense 'Ahmed just keep going, keep making them.' I was just in the zone, I didn't even care what was going on, I was just playing defense and the next time down he was saying shoot it."

He did just that tonight, sending the Titans to the Final Four where they will face South Plains College in the second semifinal at 9 p.m. EDT Friday night. Northwest Florida State College will face Hutchinson Community College in the first semifinal at 6 p.m.

"It is sweet to be in the Final Four right now!" Shulman said. "What an honor to be here with an amazing group of people, not just the players but the caching staff and everyone that is involved with the program."