FGCU storms back from 18-point deficit to earn ASUN opener vs. Jacksonville

FGCU-Jacksonville box score | updated FGCU stats
ASUN scoreboard | ASUN standings

FORT MYERS, Fla. The FGCU men’s basketball team (11-3, 1-0) battled back from an 18-point second-half deficit Saturday afternoon to beat Jacksonville (7-5, 0-1) 72-65 in the Eagles’ ASUN Conference opener. Alico Arena. Junior striker Zach Anderson (Apopka, Fla./Apopka HS) recorded his fourth double-double of the season and third in December with 18 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.

Saturday’s win extended the Green & Blue’s winning streak at Alico Arena to 11 games as the Eagles earned their fourth straight win and ninth in their last 10 games. The comeback win was also the largest of the FGCU men’s basketball head coach’s coaching career Pat Chambers. It was the Eagles’ third straight win after halftime.

“Jacksonville was a tough, physical team that takes you away from a lot of what you want to do,” Chambers said. “We were rusty after a long layoff and coming back to play a team like that is maybe not the best recipe. We really found our feet in the second half and got some stops. The ball started going in and we stayed together. It was impressive that we took it one possession at a time, didn’t take hero shots or try to get it all back at once.”

Anderson scored all but two of his points in FGCU’s torrid second half in a 44-25 win over Jacksonville. He also grabbed four offensive rebounds, dished out four assists and blocked a game-high three shots, including denying a JU attempt with 2:31 remaining.

“Zach struggled a bit in the first half, but he finally got some space on the offensive end,” Chambers said. “He got himself on defense first, got a bunch of blocks and made deflections and really engineered our defense. I really give him more credit on the defensive end, but he played phenomenal throughout.”

Senior Warden Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville HS/Purdue) had 14 points and four assists, a senior forward Dakota Rivers (Windermere, Fla./Windermere HS) added 10 points, and graduated guard Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla. / Southwest Florida Christian Academy) added nine points and five assists for his 300th career game. Redshirt sophomore center Andre Weir (Hollywood, Fla./Chaminade-Madonna College Prep/Richmond) scored nine points off the bench.

Powell and graduated guard Jordan Davis paced Jacksonville with 16 points each. Powell and senior forward Osayi Osifo each grabbed six rebounds.

FGCU got off to a hot start when Thompson nailed a 3-pointer at the 12:08 mark to take an 18-12 lead with 12:08 left in the first half. Jacksonville’s offense hit right away in the second gear as the Dolphins went on an 8-0 run to go up by two at 20-18. Four treys, three straight from Davis, gave Jacksonville a 32-21 advantage as the Dolphins went 9-11 from the field over a six-minute span.

The Eagles would end a four-minute scoring drought when Rivers slammed home an alley-oop. Rivers and Thompson cut the lead to single digits, but the Dolphins closed the first half with four straight points in the final minute to take a 40-28 halftime lead. Jacksonville shot 50 percent from the field despite missing seven of its last 10 attempts. .

Kevion Nolan’s 3-pointer at 16:36 of the second half gave Jacksonville a seemingly insurmountable 18-point lead at 49-31, but FGCU immediately began to pull away. Anderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 49-36, a triple from the junior guard. Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla./Westminster Academy/Stetson) made it 51-41, and Johnston’s putback Three Point made it 53-44 with 13:20 left.

Green & Blue wasn’t ready. Six different Eagles scored in a 21-4 run as Weir started with a jumper, Thompson and Johnston hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Catto had a layup and a trey. Anderson followed Rivers’ free throw and went for a jumper, a dunk and a corner three-pointer to erase the deficit and give FGCU a 57-55 lead with 8:11 left.

Although it remained a one-possession game into the final minute, FGCU’s suffocating defense denied Jacksonville in the final 4:38. Neither team had a field goal in the final 3:51, but the Eagles scored the final eight points of the game at the free throw line in the final 60 seconds. The Eagles shot 51.9 percent in the second half and held the Dolphins to just 36 percent over the final 20 minutes.

FGCU returns to action on the road Monday night, taking on Central Arkansas at 8:30 p.m. in Conway, Ark. Jacksonville hosts Jacksonville State on Monday.

For complete coverage of FGCU men’s basketball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_MBB and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to receive news about FGCU men’s basketball and other programs directly to your email by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

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Pat Chambers was officially introduced as FGCU’s fifth head men’s basketball coach in March 2022 and brings a wealth of college basketball experience highlighted by head coaching stints at Penn State and Boston University. Chambers spent nine years as the head of the program at Penn State (2011-20) and two years as the head coach at Boston University (2009-2011). He has 201 career wins, including four 20-win seasons. Part of his head coaching career was highlighted by leading the Nittany Lions to a No. 9 national ranking in 2019-20, tying the program’s all-time best finish in 1996. Prior to becoming head coach, he spent five seasons on the Villanova staff helping the Wildcats to the Final Four (2009), two Elite Eight appearances and to three Sweet Sixteen appearances during his tenure.

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ABOUT FGCU

FGCUteams have won an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament championships in just 15 more seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 additional DI postseasons, the Eagles have had a total of 47 teams or individuals compete in the NCAA Championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned top-25 national rankings in their respective sports — including women’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s football (2018) as the latest four. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue finished a division-best sixth in the DI-AAALearfieldDirectors’ Cup and ranked in the top 100 nationally ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had the top seven teams in ASUN and the state of Florida earn the NCAA Public Recognition Award for their academic progress percentage. FGCU also earned a record 3.66 classroom GPA in Fall 2022 and has surpassed the overall score. University student population for 27 consecutive semesters. Another milestone was reached over the last seven semesters (Fall 2019 Fall 2022) when all 15 programs achieved a cumulative team GPA of 3.0 or higher. Eagles also served an all-time record 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – recognized as one of two runners-up for the NACDACommunity Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.

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