By BILL LEVY
FGCU men’s basketball coach Joe Dooley admitted he sounded like a broken record after his team’s 61-58 setback to Louisiana Tech on Tuesday night in front of 3,514 fans at Alico Arena. It was a game that the Eagles (6-6) were outrebounded 36-30 and committed 16 turnovers compared to the Bulldogs’ 14. Like many other games this season, it was also a game that was not decided until the very end of the game, as Christian Terrell’s 3-pointer to tie the game fell short.
Despite leading 36-32 at half, FGCU was outscored 8-2 to start the second half as the Bulldogs (10-2) went up 40-38. The Eagles though then answered with a 12-4 run of their own to go up 50-44 near the midway point of the half. In that stretch, Terrell scored eight of his team high 13 points while Zach Johnson scored all four of his points in that span, which included a breakaway dunk.
Louisiana Tech however closed out the game by outscoring the Eagles 22-13 to get the victory.
After the game, Dooley echoed the same sentiments he expressed after other games, while also noting his team had breakdowns on this night.
“The peaks are very high,” he said, ‘and the lows are really low. This is getting old. It is something we have to correct. At some point we can’t keep putting ourselves in this position (when the outcome is not decided until very late in the game) The biggest disappointment was rebounding. Energy finds the ball.”
Bulldogs coach Eric Konkol was more complimentary of the Eagles, as they held the Bulldogs to a season low in points.
“We knew this would be a physical and hard played game; not a typical up and down game like we try to play,” Konkol said. “They (FGCU) really played hard and guard you. We didn’t shoot well. We battled through adversity and I am proud of the guys.”
That was little consolation for FGCU guard Reggie Reid however.
“It’s the same mistakes we keep making,” he said, when asked about the game. “Coach keeps telling us about it. We need to get tougher and finish games.”
Sounds like that is a tune Reid has heard before.
NOTES: Besides Terrell, Demetris Morant (11) and Rayjon Tucker (10) were also in scoring double figures for the Eagles. Konkol, who is in his first year at Louisiana Tech, was an assistant coach at the University Miami for the previous four seasons. The Bulldogs’ Alex Hamilton, a 6’4″ guard from Chipley High School in Florida led all scorers with 25 points. Louisiana Tech redshirt junior Erick McCree, a 6’8″ forward from Orlando, had 12 points.