Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
DUNK CITY, Fla. – The ASUN Conference’s top-two scoring teams faced each other in a 1st-place battle Thursday night at Alico Arena, but it was visiting Lipscomb (16-11, 8-2 ASUN) getting the better of FGCU (19-7, 8-2) and leaving with a low-scoring 65-60 win over the Eagles.
Despite the loss, FGCU remains in first place, but is now joined there by Lipscomb as both the Eagles and Bisons are two games clear of third place – which is currently a three-way tie at 6-4 among USC Upstate, Kennesaw State and North Florida. Four ASUN regular-season games remain.
Both FGCU and Lipscomb came into the game averaging at least 80 points per game, but neither could get its offense going in front of a near-capacity 4,412 fans. FGCU – which boasts the nation’s 4th-highest field goal percentage at 51.2 – connected at a season-low 35.4 percent from the floor (23-65) and finished just one point better than its season low of 59 set twice earlier this year.
Marc-Eddy Norelia became the 7th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points as the redshirt senior entered the game needing three points to get to the milestone, and quickly surpassed it minutes into the game. Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olypmia HS) finished with the first double-double of his season as he led the Eagles with a team-best 17 points and game-high 11 rebounds.
Close behind Norelia’s performance was guard Brandon Goodwin, who recorded his second-straight double-double with 16 points and a season-high-tying 10 rebounds. Norelia and Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) were responsible for 55 percent of FGCU’s points and 47 percent of the Green and Blue’s rebounds.
FGCU played without its best long-range threat as junior Christian Terrell rolled his ankle in practice on Wednesday and is day-to-day. Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) leads the Eagles in 3-pointers, averages 10.4 points per game and has made starts in all but one game this year.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles held Lipscomb to just 37.7 percent from the floor (20-53) and only 28 percent from 3-point range (7-25). The Bisons entered the game with the 4th-most 3-pointers in the nation, and were averaging better than 10 per game, but FGCU held that in check.
However, a 10-19 performance from the free-throw line for the Eagles compared with an 18-23 effort from the charity stripe by the Bisons was a key difference in the contest. That, and FGCU – which leads the nation in points in the paint at 43 per game – finishing with only a 24-22 edge, tied for a season-low total. With Terrell out of the lineup, the Bisons collapsed on the Eagles in the paint as the Green and Blue went just 4-19 from 3-point range (21.1 percent).
“Lipscomb really controlled the game from start to finish,” commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley, whose team led for just 11 minutes. “We got off-kilter offensively, and our shot selection was bad. When you don’t make shots and you don’t make free throws that’s really demoralizing. The ball movement wasn’t good tonight either. Our defense was terrific and certainly good enough to win the game, but our offense let us down.”
That offense has been terrific all year for the Eagles, making Thursday even more frustrating. In addition to the aforementioned field goals and points in the paint numbers, FGCU is on pace to set a Division-I single-season program record with its 79.6 points per game average.
The Bisons – who average 85 points per game – were led by 19 points from Garrison Mathews, who also added seven rebounds. Eli Pepper secured a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Josh Williams netted 10 points and Nathan Moran added 13. All but four of Lipscomb’s points came from its starters.
FGCU was able to stay in the game thanks to its defense, which forced Lipscomb into 18 turnovers. The Eagles turned those into 23 points to finish +12 in that category, but it wasn’t enough as they uncharacteristically dropped their second ASUN home game of the year (3-2) and have gone a perfect 5-0 on the road.
The first ASUN loss came by a 62-60 margin against USC Upstate on Jan. 19. The Eagles bounced back from that setback with a five-game winning streak – which was snapped by the Bisons – and they will look to start another streak on Saturday.
FGCU will continue its weekend homestand during a Homecoming contest against Kennesaw State (12-14, 6-4) on Saturday at 7 p.m. As part of the Homecoming Weekend, several former men’s basketball players will be returning to campus and partake in an Alumni Game at Alico Arena at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, which the public is welcomed to attend.
A complete list of those returning will be announced later in the week, but the list is scheduled to include Julian DeBose ’16, Eddie Murray ’13 and Nate Hicks ’15.
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