EFSC Men’s Hoops Extends Home Win Streak To 53, Defeats TAAG 97-45

By  //  December 10, 2015

Playing a home and away with the same team in the space of eight days presents any number of possibilities. (ESFC Image)
Eastern Florida’s men’s basketball team held TAAG Academy to 20 first-half points en route to a 97-45 victory on Wednesday at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus. (ESFC Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Eastern Florida’s men’s basketball team held TAAG Academy to 20 first-half points en route to a 97-45 victory on Wednesday at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus.

The victory, Eastern Florida’s 53rd straight at home, improved its record to 11-1, setting the stage for the final two games of the 2015 portion of the schedule.

The Titans travel to Santa Fe College in Gainesville for the Florida JUCO Shootout playing Gulf Coast State at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Polk State at 5 p.m. on Sunday. The Titans are then off until 4 p.m. Jan. 2 when they host Harcum College of Pennsylvania. Admission is free.

CJ-Jackson-180-2“We had a few games where we really hadn’t played our best and we’re trying to get back into the groove as a team,” said freshman guard C.J. Jackson who scored 18 points along with classmate and guard Joey Martin.
“This was a good one for us just to see the shots go in, defensive plays made and pretty much just playing together as a team.”

The 45 points were the fewest allowed by the Titans so far this season and came a night after TAAG scored 87 in a 107-87 loss at Palm Beach State.

“Practice was tough and Coach just said to keep shooting,” Martin said. “I had to shoot it out and thankfully I knocked them down. It was good.

“Games like these are good. It builds our confidence, it helps our defense. It’s all good. It’s a learning process.”

The defensive effort pleased Titans head coach Jeremy Shulman.

Jeremy Shulman
Jeremy Shulman

“I’m very proud of our guys, we’ve been getting better and better and better defensively,” he said. “We’ve been mixing up different defenses. I was really, really proud of how we played defense.

‘I thought our position was good, I thought our knowledge of the scouting report was good. I was pleased. Hopefully it gives us a good jump going into this weekend.”

Shulman also had praise for sophomore guard Will Gibson who came off the bench and while just scoring two points was effective running the offense.

“Will Gibson played outstanding basketball the second half,” Shulman said. “I really want to single him out. He really created a great culture of ball movement when he was in.”

Freshman Kareem Brewton added 17 points for the Titans who led 45-20 at halftime and came into Wednesday ranked 14th in the country and third in Florida.