Titans Blow Out Shelton 93-55, 11 Straight Wins

11th straight for the Titans

EFSU

BREVARD COUNTY, FL – Eastern Florida’s men’s basketball team closed both halves with big runs in defeating Shelton State Community College of Alabama 93-55 on Wednesday in Melbourne.

Trailing 24-19 with 11 minutes to play in the first half Eastern Florida switched from a man-to-
man to zone defense and finished with a 25-5 run for a 44-29 halftime lead.

Then, after letting Shelton State get to within 11 points at 55-44 with 13:45 to go in the game the Titans clamped down again defensively and exploded offensively finishing with a 38-11 run for the final margin.

Eastern Florida, which came into the game ranked second in Florida and 15th nationally improved to 15-1.

The victory was the 11th straight for the Titans and their 39th straight at home.

Shelton State, which came into the game ranked 16th nationally, fell to 13-3. The Bucs had the run of things early, penetrating the Titans man-to-man defense. But once

Eastern Florida head coach Jeremy Shulman switched to the zone defense the game turned. “My players made me look like a real smart coach,” Shulman said.

“We worked on exactly zero minutes of zone since we got back from Christmas break. They made it look good. “We couldn’t guard anyone the first 10 minutes of the game. They’re No. 16 in the country for a reason. They’re a tough matchup. They’ve got great guards. They can shoot the lights out. They’ve got size inside. “We honestly went to zone out of necessity. It’s something we haven’t used in a number of weeks. I’m just so proud of these guys. I can’t give you enough words to tell how proud I am.”

Shulman had praise for leading scorer sophomore Demetrius McReynolds who finished with a game-high 24 points, 19 in the second half, and classmate Landus Anderson who finished with 16 points, 13 in the second half.

Jeremy Shulman
Jeremy Shulman

“The heart and they effort they had,” Shulman said.

“It was a total team effort. I love it for guys like (freshman) Marcus (Barham) who stepped up, hadn’t played a whole lot recently but because of a ton of foul trouble we had Marcus stepped up and played some great basketball for us.”

“We knew it was going to be a big one,” Queen said. “We knew it was very important for us. I just came out with energy and just tried to pick my teammates up. Meechie (McReynolds) got going and Daishon (Smith). Once we all started clicking we could play to our ability.”

Anderson credited the team’s focus. “Focus and hard work,” he said. “I was fired up. I couldn’t wait for the second semester. This is my last semester we’ve got to give it all we’ve got. “Defense won this game. Tenacious defense. Everybody was after it.”

Lady Titans Finish Strong Against NCCC, 88-59Related Story:
Lady Titans Finish Strong Against NCCC, 88-59

McReynolds also credited the defense. “Coach adjusted to a 2-3 zone,” he said. “We got some stops and we got in transition and we were able to push the score up. My teammates were telling me to be more aggressive. The first half I wasn’t that aggressive. “We started out unranked. We’re working our way up. That’s how I like it.”Kyle meyer

Sophomore Kyle Meyer had 18 points for the Titans while sophomore guard Jermohn Queen scored six first-half points on three drives into Shelton’s big front line. Queen finished with eight.

Next up for the Titans is the Eastern Florida New Year’s Classic.

The Titans play NJCAA Division III Wytheville (Virginia) Community College (8-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and USC-Salkahatchie (South Carolina) (11-5) at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Eastern Florida’s Southern Conference foe Broward College (13-3) plays Salkahatchie at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Wytheville at 2 p.m. Saturday. Two-time defending conference champion

Eastern Florida opens conference play by visiting rival Indian River at 7 p.m. Jan. 7. Eastern Florida plays its first conference home game at 7 p.m. Jan. 14 when it hosts Palm Beach State.

Admission to Titans home games is free.