The FGCU men's basketball team (14-17, 9-7 A-SUN) wrapped up the regular season with a gritty 77-74 victory at Jacksonville (12-19, 5-11 A-SUN) Friday night in Historic Swisher Gymnasium.
With the triumph, the Eagles finished in a tie for third with North Florida in the final A-SUN Conference standings. The Green and Blue will be the No. 4 seed in the upcoming A-SUN Men's Basketball Championship and will host No. 5 seed NJIT at 7 p.m. March 4 in Alico Arena. The two teams split their regular-season matchups, with FGCU claiming a 57-55 win over the Highlanders (20-11, 8-8 A-SUN) at home on Feb. 13.
The win for FGCU snapped a four-game losing skid on the road and gave the Eagles the season sweep over the Dolphins.
"I'm really proud of our guys for digging that out. (Swisher Gymnasium) has historically been a really hard place for us to play. We've taken some tough ones here. Credit to Jacksonville because they're playing really hard," FGCU coach Michael Fly said. "Our guys stepped up and made some big plays down the stretch. (Jacksonville) went on that run and we staggered for a minute, but we got up off the mat and threw one more haymaker at them."
Senior Dinero Mercurius led FGCU with 12 points, while classmate Schadrac Casimir added 11 and sophomore Troy Baxter Jr. contributed 10. All nine players that stepped on the floor scored at least five, and seven different Eagles scored at least eight.
JD Notae led JU with a game-high 29 points. David Bell and Jalyn Hinton both finished with 11.
FGCU finished 14-for-23 (60.7 percent) from behind the 3-point arc. The 14 made 3-pointers was the highest total in an A-SUN game this year and second-most all season. The Eagles shot 46.7 percent (28-for-60) overall and 63.6 percent (7-for-11) at the free-throw line. The Dolphins shot 50 percent (29-for-58) from the field, 34.6 percent (9-for-26) from behind the arc and 58.3 percent (7-for-12) at the charity stripe.
Neither team found an advantage through the opening seven minutes. FGCU clung to an 11-10 lead and went on a quick 7-0 run to move on top by eight. JU kept it within six at 33-27 with five minutes remaining in the first half, but the Green and Blue powered on a 14-6 run to create 14 points of distance. Jacksonville made a basket at the buzzer to cut the deficit down to 49-38 at the break. The 49 points were the second-most against an A-SUN opponent in the opening half this season.
FGCU kept the momentum into the second half and went on top 57-40 at the 17:27 mark. From that point on, Jacksonville went on a huge 27-10 tear across the next nine minutes to find a way to tie the Eagles at 67-67. The game was tight the rest of the way. Junior RaySean Scott Jr. hit a contested 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock with 4:38 to play to give FGCU a three-point lead, but Notae scored the next five points to put JU on top 72-70. Scott Jr. converted a layup on the next possession, and Casimir rained another triple with the shot clock winding down to put the Eagles ahead 75-72 with 55.2 remaining.
Notae missed two final 3-point attempts and Mercurius calmly sank a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left to give the Eagles the victory.
FGCU outrebounded JU 38-27 and also led in assists (19-11), second-chance points (13-6) and points off the bench (31-19).
"Being able to host a game in the tournament is huge for our fans and it's great for our players. Obviously we play well at home," Fly said. "My hope is Alico Arena is what it's been in March historically, which is the hardest place to play in the state of Florida and one of the hardest places to play in the entire country. I'm hoping the fans will come out and support us like they have all season. We'll be prepared and we'll be ready. Obviously we split with NJIT this year, so we know it's going to be a tough matchup. We like playing in Fort Myers, and we're excited to get home and prepare for the Highlanders."
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