Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
ARLINGTON, Texas – Heading into the home venue of one of the nation’s premier mid-major programs, the FGCU men’s basketball team (7-4) snapped a two-game losing skid with a pivotal 85-78 win over UT Arlington (7-3) Saturday night, halting the Mavericks’ 21-game regular-season home-court winning streak.
In a matchup of the nation’s 16th-ranked mid-major team in FGCU and the country’s 2nd-ranked squad in UTA, it was the Eagles’ 55-percent shooting – their best against a Division-I opponent this year – and 83-percent free-throw rate – their highest on the season when making double figures – which made the key differences.
Brandon Goodwin once again led FGCU with team bests of 23 points and eight assists while also adding a team-high-tying five rebounds. The unanimous ASUN Preseason Player of the Year paced a quartet of Green and Blue double-figure scorers as Dinero Mercurius came off the bench to secure a season-high 16 points, Christian Terrell netted 16 as well in a starting role and Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) tallied 13.
The Eagles made a season-high 10 3-pointers (10-19, 53 percent) and connected on 16 of 18 free-throw attempts in the 2nd half (89 percent) to stave off a late UTA comeback. FGCU had a lead as large as 19 with 10 minutes to play, but the Mavericks – the defending champions and preseason Sun Belt Conference favorites – trimmed the deficit to six with less than two minutes remaining.
However, the Eagles responded with four-straight points from Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) – two from the line and a floater in the paint – to push the advantage back to double figures and secure one of the program’s biggest non-conference road wins under head coach Joe Dooley as UTA entered the game ranked 42nd in the RPI and receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls.
“UTA had a stretch at the end where they put us on our heels, but we had built a big enough cushion to withstand the run,” stated Dooley, whose team last year erased a D-I program-record 16-point deficit to claim a 13-point win at Alico Arena over UT Arlington. “We didn’t want to allow them (Mavericks) to get easy points, and for the most part we didn’t let them take too many easy shots. On offense, we moved the ball really well – 14 assists on 28 field goals is a good stat.”
Trailing 23-18 with just over seven minutes remaining in the 1st half, FGCU closed the stanza on an extended 19-9 run to turn the five-point deficit into a five-point lead at the break, 37-32. Included in the stretch was a 10-0 Green and Blue run over 3 minutes and 30 seconds to open up a 28-23 edge – a stretch which gave the Eagles the lead for good. The FGCU advantage grew to as much as eight, 37-29, with under a minute remaining before the Mavericks hit a late 3-pointer to close out the opening 20 minutes.
Outside shooting was a catalyst for the Eagles in the 1st half as they knocked down six of their 11 3-point attempts, including all four that came off the left hand of Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS). Those four triples in just the opening 20 minutes set his season high as the senior poured in 14 1st-half points on 5-6 shooting.
In the 2nd half, it was the hot right hand of Mercurius (Orlando, Fla./Daytona State/UTRGV/USF/Faith Baptist Christian HS) who helped carry the Eagles as the redshirt junior scored all of his 16 points in the 2nd stanza while playing just nine minutes, hitting all three of the his attempts from beyond the arc and knocking down all five of his attempts from the charity stripe.
Goodwin tallied 18 of his points in the 2nd half as the guard took over inside, forcing the issue and getting to the line as he went 8-9 from the foul line in the closing stanza – adding to his 56 makes on the year, which were the 15th-most in the nation entering the contest.
Terrell finished with five rebounds, and in the process became just the 6th player in program history with 1,000 career points (1,047) and 400 career rebounds (404).
Kevin Hervey – who came into the game ranked 10th in the nation in scoring at more than 20 per game – tallied game highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Mavs. Erick Neal finished with 15 points and five assists – well below his nation-leading average of 10 helpers per game. Three other UTA players scored 10 points each as the Mavericks shot 47 percent (27-57) from the floor.
Both teams turned the ball over at a furious rate as the Eagles won despite committing 24 turnovers – its most under Dooley, and most since having 25 at Duke on Nov. 18, 2012. The 24 turnovers in a winning effort are tied for the most in D-I program history as the Eagles also won when giving the ball away two dozen times against Campbell on Dec. 18, 2008.
While the Eagles committed a lot of turnovers, UTA did as well as it had 21 giveaways. The difference came in which team took advantage of those turnovers as FGCU held a 24-18 edge in points off giveaways.
UT Arlington was FGCU’s fourth matchup already this season against a team which finished in the top 40 of the RPI (40), won at least 25 games (27-9) and played in the postseason a year ago (NIT). The Eagles are now 2-2 in those games as FGCU also defeated Illinois State and lost twice to Middle Tennessee, which is ranked 15th in the RPI.
FGCU will have a week break from games before returning to action for its final home contest before the holiday break. The Eagles will welcome Oral Roberts to The Nest on Dec. 16 for an 8:15 p.m. tipoff (commencement ceremonies during the day at Alico).
NOTEWORTHY: FGCU used its seventh different starting lineup through the season’s first 11 games – tied for the 2nd-most in the nation … the Eagles finished with a 27-8 edge in bench points … FGCU held a 10-2 advantage in fastbreak points … points in the paint were tied at 26 … Christian Carlyle (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny HS) added seven points for the Eagles.
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