The FGCU men's basketball team fell 81-80 to Florida International Wednesday night inside Alico Arena.
The Eagles (2-7) recorded eight dunks in the contest, while the Panthers improved to 7-1 on the year.
RaySean Scott, Jr. finished with a career-high 14 rebounds and added 12 points off the bench for the first double-double of his career. The junior also tallied four assists and a block in 27 minutes. Classmate Brady Ernst posted a career-high 15 points, while contributing seven boards and three blocks.
FGCU had five different players score in double figures, including the senior trio of Dinero Mercurius (14), Haanif Cheatham (14) and Schadrac Casimir (10).
The Eagles shot 47.6 percent (30-for-63) from the field, 33.3 percent (6-for-18) from behind the 3-point line and 53.8 percent (14-for-26) at the free-throw stripe.
Brian Beard, Jr. tallied a game-high 21 points for the visitors. He was joined in double figures by Devon Andrews (15), Willy Nunez, Jr. (14) and Trejon Jacob (13).
The Panthers shot an even 50 percent (32-for-64) from the field and had shooting clips of 36.4 (12-for-33) from distance and 41.7 (5-for-12) at the line.
Florida International began the game with a 12-8 edge in the opening five minutes. The home team responded with a 9-0 run to swing momentum to its side of the court. Florida Gulf Coast continued to build that advantage until finding a game-high lead of 15 points at 39-24 with five minutes remaining in the first half. FIU stayed within striking distance, however, and was able to squeeze the deficit down to 41-34 at the break.
The visitors erupted out of the locker room and used a 23-6 run in the first six minutes to go on top 57-47. FGCU had to play catch-up from that point on. The Eagles continued to chip away until a 3-pointer from Scott, Jr. with 42 seconds left gave the home side a 79-78 lead. Cheatham made a free throw to give FGCU a two-point edge, but Beard, Jr. had one more dagger in him. He made a contested triple late in the shot clock with 14 seconds left to put FIU up one, and the final two opportunities for FGCU to steal the win ended in narrow misses.
Up Next:
FGCU will look to snap its current five-game losing skid when the team plays host to Colgate at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 2 inside Alico Arena. The single contest will be the second of five Blueouts scheduled for this season.
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