Eastern Florida State College Opens Basketball Regular Season With Wins

The Titans will play McCook Community College on Thursday.

BREVARD COUNTY • FLORIDA – The Eastern Florida State College women’s basketball team opened the regular season with a victory against USC Salkehatchie Friday morning in Jacksonville.

The Titans hit some big shots down the stretch to pick up the 63-56 win. It marked the first college win for head coach Zack Banks.

Eastern Florida State College came out fast, winning the tip and scoring on a break and held a 7-0 lead in the game. The lead would reach 10 in the first quarter, 20-10 as four players had at least four points in the first quarter, led by Angela Mirkovic who had seven.

USC Salkehatchie cut the lead to four with a 7-2 run to finish the quarter down 24-20.

Both teams struggled in the second quarter and went to halftime with the Titans holding onto a 32-28 lead.

The Titans came out in the third quarter and scored 20 points as Shadia Lara Santacruz came up big after the game was tied 40-40. Santacruz scored, then scored again and was fouled. She hit the free throw and then had a steal and a basket and the lead was back to seven. The Titans would head to the fourth quarter with a nine-point lead.

It would once again get close as USC Salkehatchie hit some big 3-pointers but an 8-0 run midway through the fourth quarter was the difference.

Bruna DaSilva and Santacruz each scored 13 points in the win while Ofir Parpara finished with 12 and Mirkovic had 10.

The Titans went on to play Chatahoochee Valley Community College at 2 p.m. Saturday in Jacksonville.

The Eastern Florida State College men’s basketball team tipped off the regular season Friday at Indian River State College.

The Titans are starting a new era as Zach Ferrell takes over the program from Thomas Gray who led Eastern Florida State College to a 23-7 record last season.

Eastern Florida State College will have a new look this season as Joviel Acevedo-Arroyo is the only returning player that played last season, averaging 5.2 points in 28 games. The team does have three players coming in as transfers from other colleges that bring experience to the squad.

“I am really excited, we have a great group of kids. A lot of talent, they have just been a blast to coach and really thankful for them,” Eastern Florida State College men’s basketball coach Zach Ferrell said. “We are really young and a lot are new to college basketball so we have a lot of learning to do but we had a great preseason for that, we grew a lot and learned and I am excited to be heading into the first game.”

Indian River State College also has plenty of new faces after a 10-20 season and, like the Titans, has one player back that played last season. Brandon Noythanongsay averaged 4.5 points in 27 games last season for The River.

“We get to open up against a really good NJCAA Division I team that we will get to see multiple times this season and is not too far away,” Ferrell said. “They are much improved, have heard a lot of good things about them. They are very talented and much improved. It will be a great first test for us to open up the year. It will give us a good gauge on where we are at.”

Friday’s season opener tipped off at 5 p.m. at Indian River State College. Fans can watch the game live online on hudl.

The Titans will be home November 14 and 15 for the Eastern Florida Classic.

The Eastern Florida State College men’s basketball team picked up a win in the season opener at Indian River State College Friday evening.

The Titans went on a couple of big runs to defeat The River 97-80 in a non-conference match between the Citrus Conference foes.

“I am so excited for our guys to be able to start off the year with a win at a conference opponent. I loved the response from our guys on some of their runs and we did a lot of great things, it was a great start for us to the year and heading into Idaho,” said Eastern Florida State College men’s basketball coach Zach Ferrell who picked up his first win at Eastern Florida State College. “There were definitely some nerves today, I am excited but to be able to get that first win today feels great.”

The Titans took the lead three minutes into the contest on back-to-back dunks from Lana Agbelese gave the Titans a 6-3 lead. It remained close until the final eight minutes of the contest when the Titans finished the half with an 18-0 run. Sean Register led the attack with 15 points in the first half.

“Sean is going to be a huge part of this team, he missed some of the preseason and I am thankful to have him back at full strength for the opener,” Ferrell said. “He was great for us defensively, on the glass and scoring the ball, he is a huge asset.”

Eastern Florida State College started the second half leading 45-24 but Indian River State College took advantage of the Titans slow start to cut the lead to 10, 49-39 in the first five minutes of the second half.

Djiby Ly started the run for Eastern Florida State College with a 3-pointer, then Joviel Acevedo-Arroyo hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 74-51. He would hit another 3-pointer later in the half and finished with 21 points.

“Joviel is in his third year with us, he has worked really hard and deserves this. He has had three coaches now in his three years and I am really proud of him,” Ferrell said.

Register finished with team-high 23 points in the win while Ly had 22 and Tyson Wilson had 10 points.

Eastern Florida State College will go to Twin Falls, Idaho for the Battle of the Boot. The Titans will play McCook Community College on Thursday.

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