Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
DUNK CITY, Fla. – For the third-straight game to begin the Atlantic Sun Conference season, the FGCU men’s basketball team (12-7, 3-0 A-Sun) staked itself to a 20-point first-half lead as the Eagles soared over USC Upstate (7-13, 1-2 A-Sun) Saturday night at Alico Arena en route to a dominant 85-56 win over the Spartans.
Trailing 8-4 not even four minutes in, FGCU head coach Joe Dooley elected to use a timeout at the 16:09 mark. Out of that timeout, the Eagles responded with a 15-0 run and an extended 39-9 run the rest of the half to create a 43-17 halftime lead and were never threatened the rest of the night as the Green and Blue won their sixth in a row and opened league play 3-0 for just the second time in program history (2013-14: 4-0).
Sophomore Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) and redshirt freshman Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) led the way for the Eagles with game highs of 18 points each. Redshirt sophomore Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) and redshirt senior Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./Rice/St. John College HS)each added 10 points as FGCU shot 53.6 percent (30-56) from the floor and made a season-high 13 3-pointers
The win was the 250th in program history (since 2002-03) for FGCU as the Eagles are now 250-180 (.581). The victory also pushed the Eagles’ all-time A-Sun record over .500 (74-73) for the first time since they were 4-3 in their inaugural A-Sun and Division-I season in 2007-08.
FGCU connected at a 61.9-percent clip from 3-point range, the second-highest single-game percentage in program history against a D-I opponent. The highest also came against Upstate (66.7 percent, 14-21) on Feb. 28, 2011. The Eagles passed out 22 assists – the most versus a D-I opponent this year – and committed a season-low four turnovers – four fewer than their previous season low.
“With the exception of the sluggish start, we played pretty well,” surmised Dooley. “The ball moved really well, and obviously the 22 assists on 30 field goals was terrific. It was nice to not have to play guys a lot of minutes, and overall it’s a good win.”
In reaching at least 80 points for the 10th time already this season – something which occurred just 12 total times the previous two years – FGCU remained on pace with North Florida as the only unbeaten teams in the A-Sun as the Ospreys improved to 4-0 in the league with a 93-78 win at home over Kennesaw State after trailing by five at the half.
The aforementioned 15-0 run by FGCU was spearheaded by consecutive 3-pointers by Filip Cvjeticanin (Zagreb, Croatia/American School of Madrid) and Terrell – the latter of which put the Eagles ahead, 10-8, and they never trailed the rest of the night. FGCU would finish the first half shooting 58.6 percent (17-29) from the floor, including a 58.3-percent clip (7-12) from 3-point range.
Cvjeticanin hit three of his four 3-point attempts as he finished with nine points, just missing what would have been his third double-figure point outing in the last four contests. FreshmanRayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) came off the bench to tally seven points on a perfect 3-3 from the floor.
Johnson’s torrid stretch has not coincidently coincided with FGCU’s six-game winning streak as the point guard has reached double-figure points in each of those contests, increasing his scoring average from 7.3 entering the winning streak to 9.8 after Saturday’s game. He also passed out a season-high-tying six assists, and for the first time in his young career when handing out multiple assists he did not commit a single turnover.
The Eagles were playing their second-consecutive game without redshirt junior Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS) as the lengthy 6-9 forward rested a right leg injury and remains day-to-day. FGCU and Upstate entered the contest as the only two teams in the A-Sun with a positive rebound differential, and even without their second-leading rebounder in terms of per-game average, the Eagles lost the battle on the boards by just two, 32-30, but out-scored the Spartans in the paint, 30-26 – the 18th time in 19 games this year they’ve reached at least 30 points in the paint.
Marvin Smith and Deion Holmes led Upstate with 12 points each as the Spartans shot a respectable 46.8 percent (22-47) from the floor against FGCU’s league-leading defense, but 17 turnovers led to 21 points for the Eagles, compared to none for Upstate. That usually stifling FGCU defense frustrated reigning A-Sun Co-Player of the Week Michael Buchanan as the 6-11 junior was limited to just two points and three rebounds in 17 foul-plagued minutes.
The Spartans ended the Eagles’ season last year with a 63-62 defeat of FGCU in the A-Sun Championship semifinals. FGCU has now won eight of the last nine overall against Upstate. The Upstate victory last year snapped a seven-game winning streak in the series by the Eagles, and Saturday marked just the third time in the last eight meetings that a meeting was decided by double-digit points.
FGCU is now 54-10 (.844) at Alico Arena since 2012-13, and boasts an 11-3 mark this year. Versus A-Sun foes during the regular season since 2012-13, FGCU is now 26-2 (.929) at Alico. Saturday also marked the 10th time this year already that FGCU has scored 80 or more points after reaching that mark just 12 total times in the first two seasons under Dooley. The Eagles also held an opponent under 60 points or less for the seventh time this season.
FGCU will return to action when it plays its first true road game since Dec. 6 at FIU onThursday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. against Kennesaw State (5-14, 1-2 A-Sun). FGCU then travels to Nashville on Friday before battling Lipscomb (4-16, 0-3 A-Sun) on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 5 p.m.Eastern.
Leave a Reply