Men's basketball team picks up fourth straight conference win

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team won their fourth straight game in the Central Conference Wednesday night at Titan Field House, giving head coach Jeremy Shulman the second-most wins in program history.

The Titans improved to 14-6 overall and 4-1 in the conference with a 70-60 victory over St. Petersburg. For Shulman it was win No. 289 which passed legendary coach Don Smith for second on the all-time win list.

"I feel so blessed, it is a special accomplishment," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Jeremy Shulman said.

Eastern Florida State College went on to key runs in the first half including a 13-0 stretch to end the first half as the Titans went into the locker room at halftime leading 34-11.

St. Petersburg would hit some big shots in the second half to cut the lead to nine with four minutes remaining. But freshman Derrick Butler hit a big 3-pointer to make sure the Titans held on for the victory. 

"Coach (Earnest) Crumbley and his staff do such an amazing job at St. Petersburg and they are always such a good team, we knew it was going to be a battle," Shulman said. "We played a phenomenal first half, we guarded so well and showed what we are capable of doing as a team. The second half we got complacent and give the credit to St. Petersburg, they took advantage and played hard down the stretch."

Butler finished with 13 points while Vlad Salaridze had 12 points and Roberts Berze finished with 10 in the win.

The Titans are 4-1 in the conference, one game behind Polk State College after the first round of conference games. 

"This conference is incredible, for us to go through the first round like this is a good start but we have to keep getting better, every night is a war in the Central Conference," said Shulman.

Eastern Florida State College will host the Florida State College at Jacksonville Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in a Central Conference game. Eastern Florida State College will honor the 1999-2000 team that won the program's last state championship during halftime.

Admission is free to games at Titan Field House and the game can be seen live online on the EFSC Titans YouTube page.