By BILL LEVY
The FGCU men’s basketball team certainly took advantage of the last time they will play a team in a lower division in the Eagles’ 104-59 victory over Webber International before 2,713 fans at the Alico Center on Tuesday night. The Eagles (9-7) built a 29-11 lead midway through the first half and never looked back as they went into halftime leading the overmatched Warriors, a member of the NAIA, 57-33.
The 57 points scored set a D1 record for the most points FGCU has scored in a half while the 104 points set an Eagles’ record for most points scored as a NCAA D1 member. Seven Eagles players were in double figures, with Marc -Eddy Norelia leading all scorers with 20 points. Other FGCU scorers in double figures were: Kevin Mickle (10), Christian Terrell (13), Zach Johnson (13), Antravious Simmons (12), Filip Cvjeticanin (11) and Rayjon Tucker (11).
“We had good spurts,” Eagles coach Joe Dooley said. “We moved the ball a little bit better. Christian got us off to a good start in the first half and Kevin got us off to good start in the second (half).”
Dooley also noted the benefits of playing a team like Webber (7-8).
“We got a chance to do some different things,” he said. “We were able to play a lot of people and play against a zone (defense).”
With the non-conference portion of the schedule now complete, FGCU has set their sites on their Atlantic Sun Conference opponents, beginning with Stetson on Saturday night at 7:00 PM at the Alico Center.
“We are very confident,” Terrell said. “We took some huge steps in practice. We were intense and went at it hard. That momentum should continue (into conference play).”
The Eagles are about to find out, according to Dooley.
“It has come down to a 14 game season,” he said.