Prior to the championship match, FGCU beat No. 8 Stetson 87-57 in the quarterfinals and beat No. 5 Kennesaw State 74-62 in the semifinals at home while UNF beat No. 6 Jacksonville 77-74 in the quarterfinals at home and No.2 Lipscomb 91-85 at Lipscomb.
The two players from both teams to keep eyes out for are senior and A-SUN Player of the Year, Dallas Moore, and redshirt junior A-SUN Newcomer of the Year, Brandon Goodwin. Moore is now a two-time A-SUN Player of the Year after winning this season and last season and currently leads the team in points per game (23.9), assists (135), assists per game (4) and steals (39). He was also on the A-SUN All-Conference First Team. Goodwin, a transfer from the University of Central Florida (UCF), was unable to play last season per the NCAA transfer rules. Goodwin currently leads the team in points per game (18.2) assist (132), assists per game (4), three pointers made (53) and free throws made (134).
Here is the scenario beforehand: If FGCU wins, then they would go to the national tournament and UNF would possibly go to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) or CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) or none at all. If UNF wins, then they would go to the national tournament and the Eagles would automatically go to the NIT due to the best season record, so you could say it's a win-lose-possible win situation meaning if either team wins or loses the game, they will or possible will go to a smaller tournament.
UNF came into the final tournament game 15-18 with a 8-6 record in conference while FGCU came in 25-7 overall with a 12-2 record in conference.
Before the game started, the announcer announced both teams' bench players, and of course UNF received a lot of negative heat. Then both starting lineups were announced one player from each team at a time. By tipoff, UNF got the ball first. UNF started off hot with 8-4 lead before FGCU reduced the lead to two before the first media timeout.
After the timeout, we took the lead after four straight points from redshirt senior Demetris Morant. After a putback layup by redshirt junior Kevin Mickle, UNF tied the game before redshirt senior Aaron Bodager hit a three point to give them the lead.
Around the 10 minute mark, Bodager caused a technical foul and Goodwin was sent to the free throw line to shoot one free throw, which went in. Nearing the end of the first half, redshirt sophomore Zach Johnson reduced UNF's lead to four points after a three point shot before Moore brought the lead back to six after a buzzer-beating layup. At the end of the first half UNF was ahead of FGCU 39-33.
During the game, a lot of UNF students and fans traveled to see the game, although they sat in the far right upper stands from the FGCU Dirty Bird section. UNF also brought their cheerleaders and Ozzie the Osprey, the UNF mascot. FGCU fans were booing them too, not as much as the players, but they were still booing them. I got a good laugh out of it, but on the other hand, I felt a little bad for them. Sigma Chi, one of FGCU's fraternities, was also in attendance to support sophomore Maxx Bleecher for he is a member of the fraternity as well as members of student government organizations.
After the 15 minute intermission, the game was back in session. Goodwin started the scoring drive with a layup and a free throw after A-SUN Freshman of the Year Wajid Aminu fouled him. After the made free throw, redshirt junior Romelo Banks scored two free throws to keep UNF ahead.
Goodwin was sent to the line yet again after Bodager fouled him and made two more free throws. After freshman Garrett Sams made two free throws, Johnson made another three pointer to cut UNF's lead to one before redshirt senior Marc-Eddy Norelia made a dunk to bring the Eagles to a one point lead.
Moore would bring the lead back to UNF, but then fouled Goodwin and sent him yet again to the free throw line. Goodwin made both free throws to bring back the lead for the Eagles. Goodwin would then get a fast break layup to bring the lead to three for FGCU before Bodager tied the game with a three point shot, but Johnson would bring the three point lead back for FGCU with a three pointer of his own. Moore tried to cut the lead to one, but redshirt junior Antravious Simmons blocked him just before another media timeout came into play.
After that, Norelia hit a another dunk to bring the lead to five, and a third media timeout came in after sophomore Rayjon Tucker hit a dunk that literally broke the shot clock and it had to be fixed during another media timeout.
UNF tried to bounce back after a tip-in and free throw shots by Aminu, but it wasn't enough to get them the lead and after a three pointer from Goodwin and two straight three pointers from junior Christian Terrell, FGCU emptied the bench and finished the game, 77-61, and the Dirty Birds stormed the court in a victorious manner.
All five starters finished in double digit points. Goodwin had a team-leading 19 points and seven assists, Norelia had 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, Morant had 14 points, eight rebounds and one block, Johnson had 10 points and three assists and Terrell had 10 points with six of them from the 3-point line.
Mickle was named A-SUN Defensive Player of the Game after finishing with four points, three rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.
Despite the loss, Moore finished with 19 points for UNF and Aminu finished with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.
During the ceremony, Morant, Norelia and Goodwin represented the FGCU on the A-SUN All-Tournament Team. Goodwin was named the MVP of the tournament.
Moore and Bodager of UNF were also on the A-SUN All-Tournament team.
After the game, the basketball team did a traditional net cutting like every conference basketball team does and I even got pics of the team cutting the net and with my W flag. Even the cheerleaders wanted a pic with the flag. Of course, how could I resist?
The question in the reader's and audience's minds is this: Who will FGCU play in the national tournament?
The answer is simple: We don't know, but from what I do know is that four teams have punched their ticket to the NCAA basketball tournament: 1. Jacksonville State of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), Winthrop of the of the Big South Conference, FGCU of the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-SUN) and Wichita State of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).
There are still 28 spots for automatic bids for the remaining conferences and the at-large bids for teams that seem like a good fit for the tournament. In addition, there is still the selection show that randomly selects who faces who in the tournament, so we could play Duke, the defending champions Villanova or it could be a team that no one would ever think about like Monmouth or La Salle. Whoever FGCU plays in the tournament will determine how big of a challenge they will have coming to them.
Side note: When Rayjon Tucker got the dunk that broke the shot clock, it was found out that it was an ESPN Top Ten Play of the Game nominee and became number seven out of 10.
Rendjis Feikners
Rayjon Tucker
Kevin Mickle
Demetris Morant
Antravious Simmons
Maxx Bleecher
Dolan Mahoney
Head coach Joe Dooley
With Brandon Goodwin
With Kevin Mickle
With Rayjon Tucker
With Rendjis Feikners
With Joshua Ko
With Zach Johnson
With Antravious Simmons
With Christian Terrell
With Maxx Bleecher
With Dolan Mahoney and Ricky Doyle
With Marc-Eddy Norelia
With assistant cheerleading coach and former cheerleader Caleb Houston
With junior Brittany Borman
With sophomore Caragan Phillips
With junior Danielle Devito
From left to right: sophomore Talya Carness, freshman Lindsey Kenney, junior Bailey Spenlau, senior Makenzie Hanle, junior Brittany Borman and freshman Jordan Paris
left: Junior Jessica Gorman right: sophomore Hayley Krizanovic
With sophomore Braden Harsey
With Demetris Morant
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