In a battle of second-place teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference, it was the FGCU men’s basketball team (15-7, 5-1 A-Sun) which emerged victorious as the Eagles never trailed and moved into sole possession of second place in the league with a 78-62 win over Lipscomb (10-11, 4-2 A-Sun) Thursday night at Alico Arena.
Redshirt senior Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette) led a quartet of FGCU double-figure scorers with a season- and game-high 18 points on an efficient 7-10 from the floor, including 3-4 from 3-point range. Senior Bernard Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) scored seven of FGCU’s first nine second-half points en route to finishing with 16 on the night. Redshirt junior Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./St. John College HS/Rice) continued his stellar play in conference action by adding 14 points and a game-best seven rebounds, while redshirt sophomore Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Olympia HS/Tulane) contributed 13 on 6-7 from the field.
With a 14-point second-half lead whittled down to just six, 56-50, and only 7:40 remaining,Brett Comer – playing on the five-year anniversary of his father, Troy, passing away – took over and put the game out of reach in less than a minute. Comer first assisted on a baseline DeBose 3-pointer, then 23 seconds later assisted on a DeBose fastbreak layup before recording a steal and going coast-to-coast to complete a traditional three-point play 23 seconds after that.
The quick 8-0 run pushed the Eagles’ lead back to 14, 64-50, and the edge ballooned to as much as 21 in the closing minutes as FGCU won its fourth game in a row and moved to 39-4 overall and 20-1 in A-Sun regular-season action at Alico Arena since the start of the 2012-13 season.
“We got off to a pretty good start by getting out in transition and getting some pretty easy shots,” commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley in reference to his team’s season-high-tying 12 fastbreak points. “Brett set the tempo by pushing the ball and increasing the pace of our offense.”
Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS), Dunk City’s four-year maestro, again led the way as he issued 12 assists – two more than Lipscomb’s entire team (10) and representing the seventh double-figure assist performance of his season. The 6-3 guard turned the ball over just two times and had a game-high three steals – also more than Lipscomb’s entire team (two).
With the win, FGCU remains one game behind league leader North Florida (14-9, 6-0 A-Sun) as the Ospreys won their seventh-straight game Thursday evening with an 86-67 triumph over Kennesaw State. UNF hosts USC Upstate (15-7, 3-3 A-Sun) Saturday. The Eagles, meanwhile, will welcome Northern Kentucky (9-12, 3-3 A-Sun), which fell at Stetson (6-16, 1-5 A-Sun) on Thursday, 85-75.
Lipscomb entered the contest with the second-most 3-pointers in the A-Sun (167), and its 8.4 per-game average for makes ranked 27th in the nation. However, it was FGCU’s perimeter defense – which ranks third in the entire country, allowing opponents to connect at just 26.2 percent – which won the long-range battle. The Eagles held Lipscomb below its season averages in 3-point percentage (.332 year / .241 Thursday), 3-point makes (seven) and field-goal percentage (.424 year / .390 Thursday).
J.C. Hampton led Lipscomb with 13 points, while Malcolm Smith added 11 and Josh Williams finished with 10 for the Bisons, who shot just 3-16 (18.8 percent) from the 3-point line in the second half.
For the sixth time through its six A-Sun games, FGCU produced at least 14 offensive rebounds, leading to 13 second-chance points – also the sixth-straight contest in which the Green and Blue has recorded 12 or more such points.
The victory gives FGCU 15 wins on the season, representing the most victories of any Division-I team in the state of the Florida. The 15-7 start is the program’s best since moving to D-I for the 2007-08 season, and the 5-1 A-Sun start is tied with last year’s club for the best ever.
Saturday’s game against Northern Kentucky is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff and is already nearly sold out. If students do not claim their entire ticket allotment prior to 5 p.m. on Friday, some of their tickets will be made available for the general public to purchase. At halftime, former FGCU baseball standout and current Chicago White Sox staff ace Chris Sale will become the first FGCU student-athlete to have a jersey retired as his No. 41 will be honored.
GAME NOTES: More than 400 pairs of new shoes and approximately $1,000 was donated to Laces of Love as part of an initiative Sale and his wife, Brianne, announced earlier this month … 32 of FGCU’s 64 all-time A-Sun victories have come since 2012-13 … the crowd was announced as 4,177, just shy of FGCU’s sixth sellout of the year … Comer surpassed 750 career assists as the active NCAA leader now has 758 … the Eagles shot 47 percent from the floor (31-66) … the 66 attempts are one shy of tying the season high set against Florida Tech … FGCU led for 39:33 … the Eagles committed just nine turnovers … Dooley celebrated his birthday on Thursday.