The FGCU men's basketball team (10-16, 5-6 A-SUN) lost a narrow 74-67 road contest to Liberty (21-5, 10-1 A-SUN) Saturday night in Vines Center. Despite the setback, the Eagles remained in a tie for fourth place in the A-SUN Conference after North Alabama (8-18, 5-6 A-SUN) fell at home earlier in the day to North Florida.
"You have to give credit to Liberty tonight for making the plays down the stretch to win the game," FGCU coach Michael Fly said. "I was really proud of our fight down 14 to cut it back to two, but they made a few more plays than us down the stretch. We will learn from tonight and prepare for NJIT on Wednesday."
"I had a feeling this was going to be hard. Florida Gulf Coast is used to competing at the top of the league on an annual basis and they've been playing a lot better," said Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay. "I felt like coming off the Stetson game, not playing as well as we could have and FGCU playing well, I knew it was going to be tough. I thought our guys did the hard little things that lead to winning and I was really proud that we were able to come out with a team victory."
Senior Schadrac Casimir erupted for a game-high 33 points in the contest. He was 8 of 14 overall, 5 of 8 from downtown and 12 of 13 from the free-throw line to hit the 30-point mark for the third time this season. Joining him in double figures was classmate Dinero Mercurius, who scored 16 points all in the second half off the bench.
FGCU shot 46.7 percent (21-for-45) from the field, 41.7 percent (10-for-24) from behind the 3-point line and 71.4 percent (15-for-21) at the free-throw mark. The Flames finished shooting 43.3 percent (26-for-60) overall, 35.5 percent (11-for-31) from distance and 84.6 percent (11-for-13) at the charity stripe.
Scottie James paced LU with 12 points and 14 rebounds, Caleb Homesley added 13 points, Lovell Cabbil contributed 12 points and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz scored 10 for the Flames.
The Eagles hung with the home side through the entire opening 20 minutes of play and trailed just 35-31 at intermission. FGCU stole the momentum early by taking a 12-6 lead, but a 7-0 run allowed LU to go back on top. Liberty was able to stretch its advantage out to 21-16 and maintain that five-point cushion at 23-18 with six minutes remaining in the opening half. Five points from Casimir sparked a 9-2 run that gave the visitors a 29-26 edge with just 1:28 left until the break. Three 3-point baskets on the last three possessions from Liberty spoiled a 19-point first-half effort from Casimir and gave the Flames a four-point lead heading into the locker room.
Liberty was able to carry that momentum into the second half, but FGCU remained close with a pair of triples from Casimir and true freshman Zach Scott to hold the gap at 51-44 at the 12:21 mark. Over the course of the next three minutes, LU used another 7-0 run to push the lead out to 58-44, but eight points from Mercurius and a layup from sophomore Brian Thomas kept FGCU within striking distance at 60-54. When all was said and done, Mercurius had exploded for 14 points in just three and a half minutes to spark a 16-4 run and get FGCU within 62-60. The visitors fought hard the last five minutes, but one last 12-7 push from the home side allowed Liberty to avoid falling at home.
Up Next:
FGCU puts its four-game home win streak on the line when the Green and Blue plays host to NJIT at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 in Alico Arena. The midweek clash will be broadcast on ESPN+ and will feature a Blueout. The Highlanders (18-7, 6-4 A-SUN) will enter the game third place in the conference. They defeated the Eagles 66-54 Jan. 30 in New Jersey.
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