Men's basketball team tops Polk State in conference opener

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team defeated Polk State College in the Central Conference opener Saturday afternoon.

The Titans used a big second half to beat the Eagles 81-76 on the road to go to 1-0 in the conference.

Sophomore Andres Burney was unstoppable inside with 28 points and 16 rebounds in the game. It was the eighth time this season the forward has recorded a double-double.

And he was on top of his game right from the start, scoring 10 of the Titans first 12 points including a couple of steals and dunks.

The first half was tight throughout with Polk State College hitting some free throws at the end to hold a five-point lead at halftime, 34-29.

The Eagles lead would reach nine points early in the second half, but the Titans would come right back with a 13-2 run that would give them the lead back. Up 53-52 with under nine minutes left, the Titans once again went on a run as the Titans would score 10 of the next 13 points for an eight-point lead with 5:32 remaining.

Polk State College would stay in the game with some timely 3-pointers but Burnes scored, then grabbed an offensive rebound and scored again to give the Titans a six-point lead with under a minute left.

Garcia scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half while teammate Caleb Byrd had 18 points in the win. Eric Parnell had 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Rod Jones scored 22 points for Polk State College.

Eastern Florida State College (11-5, 1-0) will travel to Santa Fe College Wednesday for a conference game at 7:30 p.m. before hosting Daytona State College next Saturday at 4 p.m.