Eastern Florida State’s Statistics Reflect Men’s Basketball’s Success
By Mark DeCotis // July 21, 2015
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Two staples of winning basketball are defense and rebounding and Eastern Florida’s men excelled in both en route to a record tying 2014-15 season.
Eastern Florida won its third straight Florida College System Activities Association Southern Conference championship; was NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Tournament championship runner-up for the second time in three seasons; advanced to the NJCAA Men’s Division I National Tournament for the first time since 2000; extended its home court winning streak to 47 games and tied a school record for victories, finishing 29-5.
A big reason behind the big year: the Titans finished first in the team rebounding and opponents scoring per game in the annual FCSAA season statistics.
Eastern Florida was tops in team rebounding among the FCSAA’s 19 men’s teams at 47.6 per game and its offensive rebounding average of 18.1 per game was by far tops in the association.
Eastern Florida averaged 28.6 defensive rebounds per game, second in the association.
As for team defense, the Titans allowed a best average of 51.6 points per game. They were seventh in opponents’ field goal percentage at 40.6 but allowed their opponents only 1,472 attempts, the state’s third-lowest total next to 1,376 for Pasco-Hernando State College and 1,471 for Gulf Coast State.
The Titans were third in team scoring per game at 82.6 percent; seventh in team field goal percentage at 45.9; ninth in team three-point percentage at 34.7; and sixth in team free throw percentage at 67.3.
Individually, several Eastern Florida sophomores performed well.
Kyle Meyer, who committed to the University of Houston, finished second in rebounding with 284.
Demetrius McReynolds, who committed to the University of Eastern Illinois, was eighth in scoring with 531 points while Meyer was 10th with 510.
Now rising sophomore Djordje Beronja was 24th at 401 and Florida Tech commit Jermohn Queen was 32nd at 345.
Beronja was eighth in rebounding at 247 while College of Charleston commit Payton Hulsey was ninth at 239. McReynolds was 24th at 181.
Hulsey was third in steals with 83. Freshman Daishon Smith was 20th with 47 while McReynolds was 22nd with 46. Beronja and Meyer were 33rd with 41. Queen was 37th with 40.
Meyer was fourth in blocked shots with 52. Beronja was 30th with 21 while St. Francis (Illinois) commit Landus Anderson was 39th with 19.
Payton Hulsey also was third in assists with 165. Queen was 15th with 106 and Smith 17th with 101. McReynolds was 42nd with 62.
Hulsey was ninth in assist to turnover ratio with 2.2 and smith 34th at 1.4 and McReynolds 38th with 1.3.
Beronja was sixth in field goal percentage leaders at 55.8. Meyer was 16th at 50.3. Hulsey was 23rd at 48.2. McReynolds was 41st at 44.9.
Freshman Marcus Barham was Eastern Florida’s top three-point shooting percentage leader, ranking 14th at 39.8. McReynolds was 15th at 39.7. Anderson was 21st at 39.0. Meyer was 30th at 37.5.
McReynolds and Smith were 13th in free throw percentage at 76.1. Queen was 25th at 73.1 and Meyer 28th at 71.5.
Meyer was the Southern Conference Player of the Year, the third Titan to win the award in three seasons, the others being Addison Spruill and Terrance Rowe.
Head coach Jeremy Shulman was the conference coach of the year for the third straight season. The Titans finished 10-2 in conference.
The Titans finished sixth in the NJCAA Division I national poll and second in the FCSAA state poll.
Northwest Florida State College, which defeated Eastern Florida 76-69 in the NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA title game and went on to win the NJCAA Division I title, finished first in both polls.
Northwest became the second FCSAA team to claim the national title in three seasons. The College of Central Florida won the title in the 2012-13 season after defeating Eastern Florida (then Brevard Community College) in the state final.
