Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
DUNK CITY, Fla. – For the second-straight season and third time in five years, the FGCU men’s basketball team (26-7) is heading to the NCAA Tournament as the top-seeded Eagles dominated the second half en route to a 77-61 ASUN Championship win over 3rd-seeded North Florida (15-19) in front of a program-record 4,711 fans at Alico Arena Sunday.
Led by a game-high 19 points from ASUN Tournament MVP Brandon Goodwin and five total players in double figures, the Eagles became the first league member to repeat since Belmont in 2011-12 and matched the program’s Division-I single-season wins record with 26.
Trailing at the half, 39-33, FGCU – behind Goodwin, who scored 14 in the second half – controlled the final 20 minutes as the Eagles doubled-up the Ospreys, 44-22, and limited one of the best offenses and individual scorers in the country while putting on their patented Dunk City display.
FGCU – which has won three NCAA Tournament games in the last four years – will learn its opponent and site location when the Selection Show airs live on CBS next Sunday, Mar. 12, beginning at 6 p.m. FGCU will be hosting a viewing party at Alico Arena, and the public is invited to attend. Additional information will be announced in the coming week, along with initial ticket items.
“It was a great college atmosphere; I thought the fans were terrific and they really got us going in the 2nd half,” commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. “We were a little tight in the 1st half, but we figured it out in the 2nd half and starting making plays. It’s a big deal for our program to be able to play in the NCAA Tournament again.”
The Eagles placed all five starters in double-figure points for the first time all year as Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS) and Marc-Eddy Norelia each finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Zach Johnson and Christian Terrell both netted 10 points.
ASUN Newcomer of the Year Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) tied for the game high along with ASUN Player of the Year Dallas Moore. Moore, who entered the game ranked 4th in the nation in scoring at 24 per game, scored 11 points in the 1st half but netted just eight in the 2nd half. The Eagles – who lead the ASUN in 3-point percentage defense – prevented Moore from making a single 3 as he finished 0-7.
As a team, UNF shot 6-26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range as the Eagles once again shut down the Ospreys’ lethal long-distance attack. In the ASUN Championship semifinal, UNF went 16-24 from 3-point range at Lipscomb, including a gaudy 12-14 in the 1st half. However, FGCU – which holds opponents to an average of just 69 points per game, nearly six points better than any other team in the league – held the Ospreys in check.
After shooting 50 percent (15-30) from the floor in the 1st half, UNF was stymied by the Eagles in the 2nd half, shooting just 18.5 percent (5-27), including a 1-14 clip from 3-point range (7.1 percent).
The Eagles – who lead the nation in points in the paint and had outscored their first two tournament opponents in that area by 50 – held just a 20-18 edge in that category through the opening 20 minutes. But in the 2nd half, FGCU finished with a 20-6 advantage. Much of that production came via dunks as FGCU threw down nine slams to surpass the original Dunk City Sweet Sixteen team’s record of 148 (now 157).
FGCU went just 1-8 from 3-point range in the 1st half against UNF’s zone, but in the 2nd half the Eagles went 5-8, spearheaded by a pair of triples from Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) and Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS). Johnson hit a pair of 3s in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, the latter of which put the Eagles up, 50-47, as they erased the six-point halftime deficit before the under-16 timeout.
Terrell then ensured the ASUN title would remain in Fort Myers as he hit consecutive 3-pointers between a UNF bucket with about 5 minutes remaining to turn an eight-point FGCU lead into a 12-point edge, 71-59, with 4:20 remaining. The Ospreys got no closer the rest of the day.
With Goodwin’s 19 points, he sets the program’s single-season scoring record (601), surpassing the previous mark of 597 set last year by Norelia. Additionally, with Norelia’s eight rebounds, he becomes just the third player in program history with 1,000 points and 600 rebounds, joining Bernard Thompson and Chase Fieler.
Goodwin also passed out a game-best seven assists against just one turnover as the Eagles finished with 16 assists while only committing seven turnovers. FGCU finished with a 23-7 edge in points off turnovers as the Ospreys gave the ball away 13 times and the Eagles capitalized nearly every time.
Wajid Aminu recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds for UNF, which finished the game shooting 35.1 percent (20-57) from the floor. Garrett Sams was the only other double-figure scorer for the Ospreys with 10 points.
The 4,711 fans breaks the previous Alico Arena record of 4,702 set in the ASUN Championship Final against Mercer in 2014. The Eagles are now 14-3 all-time in ASUN Tournament games as FGCU completed its second championship winning all three games by double figures. The other came in 2013 when the team became the only No. 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
Goodwin was named Tournament MVP after averaging 20 points over the three games. Norelia averaged a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds to also be named to the All-Tournament Team, and Morant also landed on the team with 12 points and six rebounds per contest.
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