FGCU comes up just short against FSU

Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com

ORLANDO – The 14th-seeded FGCU men’s basketball team (26-8) battled all night with ACC runner-up and 3rd-seeded Florida State (26-8), but ultimately came up just short as the Eagles fell to the Seminoles, 86-80, at the Amway Center in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday.

Guard Brandon Goodwin led the way for the Green and Blue with a game-high 28 points and seven assists, and running mate Zach Johnson added 17 points with five assists and four rebounds.

Going against the 2nd-tallest team in the nation presented a formidable obstacle for FGCU, but it increased in difficulty significantly when ASUN Defensive Player of the Year Demetris Morant exited the game for good in the opening minutes of the 2nd half with a right ankle injury. The uber-athletic 6-9 redshirt senior forward had five points and five rebounds when he departed at the 17:19 mark.

Despite not having their 3rd-leading scorer (10.7) and leading rebounder (8) and shot blocker (1.5), the Eagles hung tough behind the backcourt duo of Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) and Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS), as the redshirt junior and redshirt sophomore, respectively, accounted for 26 of FGCU’s 44 2nd-half points.

FGCU trimmed a double-figure 2nd-half deficit to just four, 64-60, with under 10 minutes to play, but a 7-0 spurt by the Seminoles pushed their edge to 11, and FGCU was able to get no closer than the final margin.

“First off, I want to give credit to Florida State,” commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. “They took advantage of what turnovers we did have, and their length disrupted us into taking some poor shots. But I’m really proud of our guys for the way they fought and battled all night, especially without Meech. It’s been a great year, and we’re looking forward to getting back to work next week to make sure next year is even better.”

FGCU shot 41.4 percent (29-70) from the floor, while the Seminoles connected at a 55.6-percent clip (30-54) and out-rebounded the Eagles, 46-26. Despite the differential on the glass, FSU finished with just a 7-6 edge in second-chance points.

The Eagles committed just 11 turnovers, but after six of FSU’s first 12 points in the game came off FGCU turnovers, the Seminoles concluded the night with only 13 points off giveaways while the Green and Blue had 19.

FSU built a 28-19 lead with just more than 7 minutes remaining in the 1st half, but FGCU responded with a 12-0 run – which coincided with the Eagles using a soft press and settling into a rare 2-3 zone – to take its largest lead of the game at 31-28. However, the Seminoles countered with an important 12-5 closing stretch to take a 40-36 lead into the half. That edge was extended to the aforementioned double figures before the Eagles were able to start to chip into it.

Goodwin’s 28 points were one off matching his season high and two off his career best. His 27 field goal attempts were one shy of tying the all-time single-game program record (28 by Ryan Hopkins in January of 2003), while the 12 makes were tied for the 7th-most.

Playing his final game with the Green and Blue, Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) finished with nine points and a team-best six rebounds. Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) just missed cracking double figures with nine points, and Rayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) tallied eight points.

Florida State went to the free throw line 39 times compared with just 20 for FGCU, and the Seminoles made 24. The Eagles entered the game leading the nation in points in the paint at 41.5 per outing, and despite Morant’s limited action were only out-scored in that area, 44-36, despite every player except one on the Seminoles checking in at 6-4 or taller.

Dwayne Bacon led FSU with 25 points and nine rebounds, while Jonathan Isaac recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Eagles were making their third NCAA Tournament appearance in five years, and are now 3-3 all-time in the Big Dance. FGCU finishes the season with a D-I program-record-tying 26 wins, and closes the campaign with its first single-digit loss total in the D-I era. The Eagles will return 80 percent of their scoring next year as they are expected to lose just Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS) and Norelia to graduation.