Men's basketball team faces No. 1 South Plains for title tonight

The Eastern Florida State College men's basketball team will play for the tournament title tonight at the Battle for the Boot in Idaho.

The No. 23 Titans will play No. 1 ranked South Plains for the championship at 7 p.m. EST after defeating No. 12 College of Southern Idaho in the semifinals on Friday night.

"The environment at CSI last night was special and threw adversity on our young team. I told our guys I could not be more proud of a group for sticking together and pushing through what they went through over the course of that game," Eastern Florida State College men's basketball coach Thomas Gray said. "We have a resilient group that will continue to grow through opportunities like this."

They will be tested in the final as South Plains comes into the contest 3-0 on the season and defeated Monroe University 80-74 in the other semifinal. South Plains is coming off a 32-win season and made the Elite Eight of the NJCAA Division I National Tournament. They begin the season as the No. 1 team in the nation and have five players averaging at least 12 points a game. Isaac Taveras is coming off his best game of the season, scoring 25 points and grabbing 21 rebounds in the win over Monroe.  

Eastern Florida State College is 3-0 this season and forward Fredy-Salam Sylla has recorded a double-double in both games of the tournament while Corey Caulker is averaging 20 points per game. Caulker came up big at the free throw line in the semifinal, making all six in the final minute of the game.

The Titans will be playing its second straight game against nationally-ranked teams to start the season.