Men's basketball team defeats Polk State on sophomore night

The Eastern Florida State men's basketball team wrapped up the regular season with a victory over Polk State College Monday night at Titan Field House.

The Titans picked up the 81-71 victory to finish the regular season with 23 wins. Eastern Florida State College finishes second in the Citrus Conference and heads to the postseason 23-6 on the season.

Eastern Florida State College jumped out to a 12-3 start as Fredy-Salam Sylla, Felipe Patino and Joviel Acevedo-Arroyo all hit 3-pointers before the first media timeout.

Polk State College closed the gap and tied it on a Kenny Fields basket 27-27 with 3:35 left in the first half.

Efe Tahmaz hit a big basket to give the Titans the lead back with under two minutes left and they went into halftime with a 34-31 lead.

Wesley Isoje got things started in the second half with a couple of baskets and the Titans took advantage of two fouls on 3-pointers to an eight-point lead. A Corey Caulker 3-pointer with 12 minutes left gave the Titans an 11-point lead. Polk State would make another run, trailing 58-55 with 7:15 left. But an Acevedo-Arroyo 3-pointer followed up by another Patino 3-pointer pushed the lead back up as they picked up another conference win.

Isoje led the Titans with 16 points while Patino finished with four 3-pointers and 14 points in the game. Sylla and Arroyo each had 13 points while Caulker had 11 points in the win.

Fields had a game-high 21 points for Polk State College who finish the season 19-11.

Eastern Florida State College and Polk State College will advance to the NJCAA Region 8 Men's Basketball Tournament beginning March 13 at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville.