Men's basketball team meets Tallahassee in state tournament semifinals

The second FCSAA State Tournament Semifinal will be a battle of two of the top defending teams in the country.

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team plays Tallahassee Community College at 4 p.m. EST Friday afternoon in Niceville, Florida. The Titans come into the contest No. 5 in the country, allowing an average of 63.4 points per game while Tallahassee is No. 10, allowing 65.1 points per game.

Both teams held their opponents to under 60 points in the quarterfinals.

Tallahassee, who is ranked No. 12 in the country, came back from a 13-point deficit in the second half to defeat the State College of Florida-Manatee in the quarterfinals. The Eagles are 26-5 this season and are led by the duo of El Ellis and Tariq Silver who had 16 and 13 respectively in the quarterfinals.

"We are incredibly excited for the opportunity to play in the semifinal against such an outstanding team in Tallahassee," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said. "Tallahassee is deep, talented, well coached, and has been one of the top 10 teams in the country all season. We are excited for the opportunity."

The Titans defeated Indian River State College 68-56 in the quarterfinals led by Johnny Bernard and Brian Dugazon who had 18 and 15 points respectively.

The meeting will be the first of the season between Eastern Florida State College and Tallahassee and will tip off at 4 p.m. EST Friday. 

The College of Central Florida will play Gulf Coast in the first semifinal game of the day beginning at 2 p.m. EST. The two winners advance to the championship game Saturday at 6 p.m. EST.

The games can be seen live online at emeraldcoasttv.com