Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
FORT MYERS, Fla. – In front of a packed house at Alico Arena and with the men’s college basketball world looking on, Florida Gulf Coast University beat cross-coast rival and No. 7-ranked Florida Atlantic University 72-68 Saturday night behind 21 points from Zach Anderson and 18 from Dallion Johnson.
“We have 16 games to go, but for one night, it came together.” said FGCU head coach Pat Chambers. “I thought our defense was fantastic. I thought our closeouts were fantastic, and they only made four 3’s. [FAU’s] a good team. But the way these guys were able to guard as hard as they did for 40 minutes? I’m very optimistic as we approach conference play.”
With points at a premium the later the contest got, the Eagles found themselves in a tie game with 4:46 left. Instead of folding, FGCU answered the bell. With the shot clock winding down, Franco Miller, Jr., kicked it from the wing to Anderson up top, who knocked down the triple with 4:15 left to give the Eagles a 65-62 lead. FAU would score to pull within one, but the Eagles again had a response. As Johnson jab-stepped to draw defenders toward him, he reset and kicked to Anderson, who drained another bomb from long-range to give FGCU a four-point edge, 68-64.
FAU (10-3) would answer back to tie the game and FGCU would call timeout as the clock bled towards 80 seconds left. Out of the timeout, Cyrus Largie took possession and held the ball between the circles. As Largie dribbled, Anderson cut towards the basket, with two Owls defenders momentarily going with him. That left Johnson alone on the wing, as the shooter who followed Chambers from Penn State to Fort Myers buried one of the biggest shots of his career to give the Eagles a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The Owls settled for three game-tying shots, with each bouncing off the iron. A rebound finally found its way to Anderson, and the Eagles slowed the tempo. With FAU having only committed three fouls in the half to that point, the Owls could only try to get a stop on defense with 10 seconds between the shot clock and game clock. Instead, Miller drained the shot clock, then drained the hopes of FAU as he was fouled in the act of shooting with 15.2 to go. He would make one of the two shots from the charity stripe, but the Eagles rebounded the second chance. Even after a turnover gave FAU the ball back, the final shot for the guests would be an airball. Even after the court storm was delayed three different times due to clock reviews and timeouts within the last 0.4 seconds, many of the 4,633 the fans weren’t going to be kept off the Alico Arena floor tonight.
“I’m happy for our players, I’m happy for their families,” said Coach Chambers. “I’m happy for this university, I’m happy for this athletic department. So if we can bring everybody together and give them some joy for one night, that’s awesome. Internally, it’s about the standard that we’re trying to play with some consistency every single day. So [tonight’s] great, and it’s going to help in recruiting. Last year, we beat USC and St. Bonaventure. This year, we’re able to beat FAU who’s a Final Four contender. That speaks volumes to these guys and the program that we’re building.”
Done with non-conference play for the regular season, the attention turns to Atlantic Sun Conference play as the calendar flips to 2024. FGCU opens play in the league Thursday night as Jacksonville University visits Alico Arena. Opening tip is set for 7 p.m.
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