Men’s Basketball Opens Seasons 2-0 at Eastern Florida’s Jim Grimes Classic

The Florida State College at Jacksonville men's basketball team tipped-off their regular season at Eastern Florida State College's Annual Jim Grimes Classic this past weekend.

FSCJ opened up versus NJCAA Division I opponent East Georgia State College (EGSC) Friday evening. From the tip FSCJ took the early lead 3-2 and never looked back. Powered behind a 27-point, 6-rebound effort from sophomore captain Tarence Guinyard the BlueWave picked up the win over the Bobcats 72-47.

FSCJ dominated the glass versus a young EGSC team 56-26, well enough to earn them the first-place ranking in the country for offensive rebounding through opening weekend. The effort on the boards were led by 6-foot freshman guard Aiden Fletcher's 11 total rebounds and sophomore Raheem Taplin's five offensive boards. Head Coach John Putyrski doesn't expect the rebounding effort to be a fluke. 

Head Coach John Putyrski doesn't expect the rebounding effort to be a fluke. "I've preached rebounding to these guys since day one,'" said Putyrski. "I told them I expect to be one of the best rebounding teams in the country. That's what we want our identity to be. The credit goes to them for embracing and making the effort on the court." 

Day two of the classic found FSCJ back in action early Saturday afternoon to take on Time to Ball Prep, a post-graduate program located out of Miami, Florida. FSCJ was once again led by Tarence Guinyard with 19 points in limited action. Contributions from Aiden Fletcher (11 points, 8 assists) and Taplin (13 points), along with freshman guard Gary Anderson (11 points) cruised FSCJ to a 98-50 victory to conclude the Jim Grimes Classic in Melbourne.

FSCJ opens up a five game home stretch when they tip-off on Tuesday, November 7^th versus local North Florida Prep.

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