FGCU MBB @ Stetson Recap

The FGCU men's basketball team (11-17, 6-7 A-SUN) fell at Stetson (6-21, 2-10 A-SUN) 67-55 Saturday afternoon at J. Ollie Edmunds Center.

Despite the setback, the Eagles officially qualified for the A-SUN Championship tournament and maintained their position in fourth place in the current standings. The Green and Blue remain a half-game back of third-place NJIT (18-9, 6-6 A-SUN) and are tied with North Florida (12-16, 6-7 A-SUN) in the fourth position. Jacksonville (12-15, 5-7 A-SUN) and North Alabama (8-19, 5-7 A-SUN) are both right behind in a tie for sixth.

"You have to give credit to Stetson and Coach (Corey) Williams. They played harder than us tonight and competed for 40 minutes," FGCU coach Michael Fly said. "I didn't think we competed at the level we are capable of outside of a few stretches in the game. Today is a hard lesson, but we will learn from it and prepare for Lipscomb."

Senior Dinero Mercurius led FGCU with 13 points. Classmate Schadrac Casimir and junior Christian Carlyle both contributed 12 points. Carlyle reached double figures for the first time since the previous meeting against Stetson on Jan. 21.

The Eagles shot 38.8 percent (19-for-48) overall, 33.3 percent (8-for-24) from beyond the 3-point arc and 75 percent (9-for-12) at the free-throw line. Stetson converted at a 42.4 percent clip (25-for-59) overall, 28 percent (7-for-25) from deep and 76.9 percent (10-for-13) at the line.

Marques Sumners came off the bench to lead all scorers with 15 points. Christiaan Jones added 13 points, and Abayomi Iyiola finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Hatters took a 3-2 lead in the opening moments of the contest and led the rest of the game. They were initially able to open up an 18-10 advantage at the midway point of the first half, and they kept that margin up until securing a 25-18 lead. They went on to outscore FGCU 12-2 in the final four minutes to head into the locker room with a 37-20 advantage.

The home team later extended that cushion to 43-22 three minutes in the second period, but FGCU found another gear and ripped off a 20-2 run to pull within 45-42 at the 9:23 mark. The closest the Eagles would come would be a 49-47 deficit with six minutes remaining before running out of steam. Stetson used a 16-3 run of its own to go back on top by 15 before settling for the 12-point victory.

Up Next:
FGCU continues to push for a top-4 spot in the conference tournament when the Green and Blue welcomes league leader Lipscomb (21-5, 12-1 A-SUN) at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 in Alico Arena. The Wednesday clash will be a Blueout and will feature a Bison squad that leads the conference with an NCAA NET rating of No. 37 in the nation. The contest will be a rematch of last year's A-SUN Championship final, which was won by the Bisons in Fort Myers last year. Lipscomb also narrowly escaped FGCU 89-81 at home on Jan. 24.