Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
DUNK CITY, Fla. – The backcourt duo of Brandon Goodwin and Zach Johnson combined to score 40 of the FGCU men’s basketball team’s 84 points Saturday night as the Eagles (15-6, 4-1 ASUN) bounced back from a last-second loss Thursday to claim an 84-71 win over NJIT (9-12, 1-4 ASUN) at Alico Arena.
Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) recorded his 7th 20-point game of the year with a team-best 21, while Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) tallied 19 as the Eagles shot 53.6 percent (30-56) from the floor to remain tied for 1st place in the ASUN.
FGCU entered the day in a four-way tie atop the league ledger, but now shares that top position with USC Upstate and North Florida. The Eagles and Ospreys – the ASUN’s top-two teams in the preseason poll – are set to clash in Jacksonville on Wednesday night.
The Eagles came out flying with four dunks in the first 7 minutes to set the tone for the evening. The lead grew to as large as 19 in the 1st half, 34-15, before the Green and Blue settled for a 41-30 halftime lead.
NJIT – playing without its leading scorer Damon Lynn (21.7 points per game) for most of the game after suffering an injury early in the 1st half – fought back and only trailed by four, 47-43, with 13 minutes to play. However, an extended 23-9 run by FGCU pushed the lead back to 18, and the Eagles cruised from there to finally have an ASUN game decided by double figures.
“We got off to a great start and really pushed the tempo,” stated FGCU head coach Joe Dooley, whose team out-scored NJIT in fastbreak points, 19-0 – a season-high total for FGCU against a Division-I opponent. “We were playing pretty well and then got into a stretch where we really took away our own momentum by forcing some shots, but we’ll get that figured out. We did a better job defending in stretches tonight as well which helped.”
Rayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) shot a perfect 5-5 from the floor and 6-7 from the free throw line to finish with 16 points in a starting role. Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) tallied 12 points and passed out four assists. Johnson issued a game-high six assists, and Goodwin recorded a career-high-tying four steals.
FGCU’s first four ASUN contests had been decided by a total of 10 points, but the Eagles ensured that stretch of close games would come to an end Saturday thanks in part to an 42-28 edge in paint points. Entering the contest, FGCU ranked 2nd in the nation to only Kentucky in points in the paint, averaging 42.7 per outing.
The Eagles did that without one of their main low-post threats as Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) played just 2 minutes because of an injury. The 6-9 forward averages 7.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, but after checking in early in the 1st half went back to the bench and did not return.
The Eagles have relied on their depth all year, and that was the case again Saturday as even without Simmons – who has a pair of double-doubles on the year and has started 10 games – FGCU controlled the contest throughout. The Green and Blue turned up the pressure, finishing with a 23-9 edge in points off turnovers, and protected the ball en route to only giving away the ball a season-low-tying nine times.
NJIT came into the contest with the 26th-most made 3-pointers in the nation (9.1 per game), but the Eagles were able to hold the Highlanders to just 7-19 (36.8 percent) from beyond the arc in Lynn’s absence. Lynn had made the 2nd-most 3-pointers in the country this year, and was the NCAA’s active career scoring leader with 2,153 points.
Abdul Lewis narrowly missed a double-double with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds for the Highlanders. Taj Price totaled nine points and secured a game-best 11 rebounds, while Tim Coleman totaled 13 points and Anthony Tarke came off the bench to net 11 points.
The Eagles are now 10-0 this year when leading at the half, and an incredible 60-4 (.938) under Dooley. FGCU – which entered the game ranked 3rd in the nation in field goal percentage – increased that even more Saturday, outshooting NJIT (43.4 percent) to move its record to 14-1 this season when posting a better field goal percentage.
The 4-1 start to the ASUN season for the Eagles marks the 5th-straight that they have begun a league campaign 4-1. Dating back to 2011-12, FGCU has not lost consecutive ASUN regular-season home games.
FGCU is now 68-13 (.839) at Alico Arena since 2012-13, and versus ASUN foes during the regular season since 2012-13, FGCU is a dominant 30-4 (.882) at The Nest.
FGCU will now hit the road for that crucial matchup in Jacksonville against North Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m.
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