Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
MACON, Ga. – Coming off a week in which he led FGCU by averaging 17 points and 4.5 assists per game, redshirt freshman Zach Johnson was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Co-Newcomer of the Week on Monday by league officials. Johnson shares the award with Stetson’s Derick Newton.
Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) scored 16 points as part of an 82-78 FGCU win over NJITon Thursday and added a game-high-tying 18 points against USC Upstate on Saturday as the Eagles won their sixth in a row with a dominant 85-56 victory over the Spartans.
In the closing seconds of overtime against NJIT, Johnson blocked a potential game-tying layup to secure the win for the Eagles, and versus the Spartans he passed out a season-high-tying six assists against no turnovers. Johnson’s stretch of six-straight double-figure scoring games has not coincidently coincided with FGCU’s winning streak.
The honor is the first of Johnson’s career after he utilized a redshirt season last year for medical reasons. He is now the fourth different FGCU player to receive weekly recognition from the league this year as redshirt junior Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS)has been named A-Sun Player of the Week and A-Sun Co-Player of the Week, and freshmenReggie Reid (Harlem, Ga./Harlem HS) and Rayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) have both been tabbed as A-Sun Newcomer of the Week.
Johnson leads FGCU in scoring in A-Sun games with a 17 point-per-game average as the guard is shooting 61.3 percent (19-31) from the floor in league games. Four of Johnson’s 10 total 3-pointers on the year have come in conference play (4-6), as he has also issued a team-high 14 assists against A-Sun foes.
Prior to FGCU’s six-game winning streak, Johnson was averaging 7.3 points per game, and has increased that to 9.8 – the third-best on the Eagles’ roster.
The win over Upstate 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.
Stetson’s Newton scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Hatters’ 89-86 overtime victory against Upstate on Thursday, and tallied 13 points alongside six rebounds in a 71-59 loss to NJIT on Saturday.
Johnson and FGCU (12-7 overall) will return to action when they play their first true road game since Dec. 6 at FIU on Thursday, 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.
FGCU and North Florida are the only two remaining unbeaten teams in the A-Sun as the Ospreys have a half-game lead on the Eagles with a 4-0 league record. Jacksonville (2-1) is in third place as the only other team in the league above .500.
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