Men's basketball team falls short in conference opener

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team fell short against Florida Southwestern Saturday in the Citrus Conference opener at Titan Field House.

The No. 19 ranked Titans fell to the Bucs 82-78 in a game that came right down to the final seconds.

Down 75-71 with four minutes left, Carlos Cortijo hit a 3-pointer and then after a stop Owen Aquino made a big dunk to give the Titans a 76-75 lead with two minutes remaining. Matus Malovec would give the Titans a lead once again with 1:21 remaining but Florida Southwestern would score the final five points to pick up including two big free throws from Dezdrick Lindsay to help the Bucs get the road win.

The Titans came right out swinging and went on a 12-0 run to lead 19-8 seven minutes into the contest. Aquino had six of those points. Florida Southwestern would trail 30-17 after a basket by Emondrek Erkins-Ford. Florida Southwestern would cut into the lead for the next five minutes and take their first lead with just under three minutes left in the first half. Malovec would make a couple of free throws to tie it and then Andrija Bukumirovic made one free throw to send the Titans to halftime with a 40-39 lead.

Aquino finished with 21 points while Malovec had 12, Zuzic 11 and Cortijo 10. Lindsay finished with a game-high 33 points.

Eastern Florida State College fell to 12-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference while Florida Southwestern improved to 10-4 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

The Titans will be on the road next week for conference games against St. Petersburg on Wednesday and then Santa Fe on Saturday. Eastern Florida State College will be back at Titan Field House on Jan. 17 against Indian River State College.