Men's basketball team defeats South Georgia Tech

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team defeated South Georgia Tech to go 2-0 at the Jim Grimes Classic at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus.

The Titans improved to 9-2 with the 84-66 victory Saturday afternoon.

With a nice crowd in attendance for the second straight day for the fifth annual Jim Grimes Classic, the Titans came out shooting.

AJ Dixon opened the game with a 3-pointer and Andres Burney's first basket made it 5-2. South Georgia Tech would take their only lead of the contest at 6-5.

But from there, the Titans went on a 5-0 run and would lead by double digits behind three 3-pointers by Matiya Zuzic, who returned from an injury. The lead would reach 17 on an Eric Parnell 3-pointer with 2:14 remaining.

Leading 13 at the half, the Titans would continue to hang onto a double-digit lead throughout the second half as Caleb Byrd and Burney combined to score 25 of the 41 points in the second half.

Burney finished with his seventh double-double of the season, scoring 20 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in the win. Byrd led the Titans with 22 points. Parnell and Zuzic each hit four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points while Dixon finished with 10 points.

Semaj Henderson led South Georgia Tech with 20 points.

In the first game of the day, Daytona State College defeated North Florida Prep 108-73. Five players scored in double figures in the win, led by Jacob Crews who had 17 points.

The victory is the third straight for the Titans, who will host the JUCO Shootout next weekend. Eastern Florida State College will play the final game of the day on both Saturday and Sunday. The Titans will face Florida Southwestern at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and then Tallahassee Community College Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Admission will be $10 per day or $15 for both days and can be purchased online or at the gate.