Eastern Florida State Titans Tip Off Jim Grimes Classic with Eighth Straight Win

By  //  December 2, 2017

Titans are 9-1 after 74-62 win

The men’s basketball team is hosting the Jim Grimes Classic on Friday and Saturday featuring some of the top teams in the country.

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA — Saturday will cap off a very special weekend at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus of Eastern Florida State College.

The men’s basketball team is hosting the Jim Grimes Classic and tipped off the event off with a 74-62 win over Polk State on Friday night. It was EFSC’s second win over Polk State in the last four games.

Polk State College held a nine-point lead seven minutes into the game but Michael Nuga and Logan Folsom hit back-to-back 3-pointer’s to cut the lead to two points.

Polk State would would keep the lead until Ahmed Ali hit a hit a 3-pointer with 4:22 left in the first half to give the Titans the lead for good.

Ali had 14 of his game-high 18 points in the first half.

Sophomore Eli Abaev took over in the second half, scoring eight straight points for the Titans to extend the lead to eight points seven minutes into the second half.

Abaev finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in the game while teammate Shaq Carter had 11 points.

Gimes, who passed away last January, joined EFSC in 2010, taking over the women’s basketball program in 2013 and leading them to Southern Conference titles and NJCAA Regional 8/FCSAA tournaments the past two seasons. Basketball was his passion and his ministry.

Jim Grimes was the associate head coach of the men’s basketball team for the 2012-2013 season before taking over the women’s program on March 18, 2013.

In his three-plus seasons as the women’s coach, Grimes led them to Southern Conference titles in 2014-15 and 2015-16, earning trips to the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament both seasons.

He passed away at the age of 45 on Jan. 29, 2017.

“Jim Grimes was one of my best friends, an assistant coach in my first three years here and was a wildly successful women’s coach before passing away last year so I wanted to do something to honor him and his legacy,” Men’s basketball head coach Jeremy Shulman said.

“It is going to be an unbelievable classic and it is going to be very special to me. … To get the caliber of teams here is special. It is going to be great basketball and remember a really, really great man.”

In the second game, No.13 Tallahassee Community College defeated Snow College, 72-59.

Tallahassee will play Polk State at 2 p.m. Saturday with the Titans facing Snow College at 4 p.m.

Sophomore point guard Ahmed Ali has been the NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Week the past two weeks and comes into the weekend averaging 21 points per game.
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The Titans enter Saturday’s contest 9-1 overall following their eighth straight win on Friday night.

Sophomore point guard Ahmed Ali has been the NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Week the past two weeks and comes into the weekend averaging 21 points per game.

Tallahassee is 9-0 this season and ranked No. 13 in the NJCAA Division I poll while Snow College is 5-2 and receiving votes in the poll. Polk State is now 2-8.

Admission is free to games at Titan Field House but if you can’t make the trip to Melbourne, you can catch the action live on WEFS-TV and online at efsctitans.com/webcast

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