Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
LAKEPOINT, Ga. – After hitting all three free throws with .6 of a second left to give FGCU a one-point win Saturday afternoon in the league opener at Stetson, Brandon Goodwin has been named the ASUN Newcomer of the Week for the third time this year, as announced by conference officials Monday.
The redshirt junior transfer led the Eagles with 20 points – seven coming in the final 2:41 of the game – to help FGCU erase an eight-point deficit with just over a minute left to claim an 89-88 victory over the Hatters in a rematch of last year’s ASUN Championship game.
Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) also posted game-high-tying totals with seven assists and seven rebounds as the Eagles won their fifth in a row to move to 12-5 on the year. The guard went 8-9 from the free throw line, including a clutch 7-7 in the final 3 minutes.
After getting down the aforementioned eight points, 85-78, Goodwin tied the game at 86-86 with 9 seconds left. He split a pair of defenders at the top of the arc and drove in for an uncontested layup. However, Stetson immediately pushed the ball into the frontcourt and converted a layup with 3.6 seconds left.
That ended up being just enough time for Goodwin. The savvy guard advanced the ball as far as he could, used a pump fake to get a defender in the air and drew a foul while attempting a 3-pointer from NBA range with .6 left.
Goodwin – who hit a game-winning shot in the closing seconds last month at Louisiana Tech – hit nothing but net on his first two attempts to tie the game, and Stetson took its final timeout. Unfazed, Goodwin hit nothing but nylon on his third attempt, and the Hatters’ final desperation heave from about three-quarters court was just off the mark.
It’s the third time this year already that Goodwin has been named ASUN Newcomer of the Week. He previously won the award on Nov. 21 and Dec. 12.
Goodwin leads the Eagles with 16.7 points and 4.2 assists per game in just under 30 minutes per contest. The 6-2 guard is also shooting 54.5 percent from the floor while pulling down 3.8 rebounds per game. He’s led the Green and Blue in scoring 10 times already this year, and has been in double figures in all but one game this year.
With the road triumph over a Stetson team which lost no key players from last year’s ASUN runner-up finish, FGCU now boasts an official RPI of 75 – up 10 spots prior to the contest against the Hatters.
Goodwin and the Eagles will now turn their attention toward a weekend road trip to Kennesaw State and Lipscomb, beginning just outside Atlanta with the Owls on Thursday, Jan. 12, before concluding in Nashville with the Bisons on Saturday, Jan. 14. Lipscomb won its fifth in a row with an 82-79 comeback victory at home over Kennesaw State Saturday afternoon to open league play. KSU is 6-11, while Lipscomb is 9-9. It’ll be just the second time that FGCU will have its first three ASUN games away from home (2009-10).
Leave a Reply