Titans Throttle Wytheville 80-46, Improve to 16-1

Win their 12th straight game this season

The Titans will seek to add to the growing totals when they host USC-Salkahatchie at 4 p.m. Saturday in Melbourne.
The Titans will seek to add to the growing totals when they host USC-Salkahatchie at 4 p.m. Saturday in Melbourne. (Image by EFSU )

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The numbers keep rising for Eastern Florida’s men’s basketball team.

The Titans defeated Wytheville Community College of Virginia 80-46 on Friday’s opening night of the Eastern Florida New Year Classic in the Melbourne Campus gym to:

• Extend their season record to 16-1.
• Win their 12th straight game this season.
• Win their 40th straight game at home.

The Titans will seek to add to the growing totals when they host USC-Salkahatchie at 4 p.m. Saturday in Melbourne.

Salkahatchie dropped to 11-8 on the season as it lost 89-81 to Broward College (14-3) in Friday’s Classic opener. Broward plays Wytheville at 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission to all games is free.

NJCAA Division III Wytheville fell to 9-8.

The Titans came into Friday’s game ranked 15th nationally in the NJCAA Division I poll and second in Florida but struggled early against quick, pesky Wytheville.

The Titans managed to open a 17-point lead, 31-14 with 1 minute and 25 seconds to play in the opening half but led only by 10, 33-23, at the break.

But Eastern Florida’s strength, size and speed wore Wytheville down in the second half and the Titans built a 61-36 lead with 9:56 to play.

They closed with a 19-10 run for the final margin.

Kyle Meyer
Kyle Meyer

Sophomore center Kyle Meyer led Eastern Florida with 24 points, 17 coming in the first half.

Classmate Landus Anderson was the only other Titan in double figures, contributing 15 points including three three-pointers.

“First of all my hat goes off to Wytheville,” said Eastern Florida State College head coach Jeremy Shulman. “Coach (Tyler) Cannoy has a very good team. I think they have a chance to win the Division III national championship.

“For my guys, I’ll tell you what. I knew we had to come ready to play. We didn’t really come ready to play in the first half and it wasn’t a fun locker room to be in at halftime. The guys responded.”

As for Salkahatchie on Saturday: “USC-Salkahatchie is very talented,” Shulman said.
“We’ve got to stick to the process and we’ve got to play our style of game. It’s all about the process.”

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And the process continues to evolve and the best is yet to come, Meyer said.

 

“We’ve still got a lot more to do, a lot of things to work on. In practice we learn something new every day. One thing’s going to lead to another and we keep on going up and up,” said Meyer.

After Saturday Eastern Florida begins defense of its two straight Florida College System Activities Association Southern Conference titles when it visits Indian River State College in Fort Pierce at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Eastern Florida’s first conference home game is 7 p.m. Jan. 14 when it hosts Palm Beach State College