ESTERO, Fla. – Just as it did in Monday's opening-round win, the FGCU men's basketball team (5-0) started slow but dominated the middle portion of the game as the Eagles stormed past San Francisco (3-1) Tuesday night at Germain Arena, 62-47, and into the Gulf Coast Showcase final Wednesday.
 
Bernard Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) scored a game-high 20 points to lead FGCU as 15 of those came in the second half. In a foul-plagued affair, it was redshirt senior center Nate Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS/Georgia Tech) who stepped up the most as the big man netted 11 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked three shots.
 
FGCU will play Green Bay in the championship game Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. The Phoenix, who are 3-1 on the year after beating Evansville in the first semifinal, 64-62, went 24-7 last year and will present the Eagles with their fourth opponent in the last five games which won at least 20 games last season.
 
With the win, FGCU begins a season 5-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 season which was the program's second year. Additionally, FGCU becomes the first Atlantic Sun Conference member to start a campaign with five straight wins since Jacksonville in 2000-01.
 
Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Olympia HS) added 10 points and grabbed a team-high-tying six rebounds to finish as FGCU's other double-figure point scorer. Senior point guard Brett Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) tallied only three points but issued a game-high eight assists while not turning the ball over once.
 
Like they did in their 58-43 win over Marist Monday, the Eagles started slow and held just a 19-17 lead with a little more than three minutes remaining in the first half. However, FGCU closed the first stanza on a 7-1 run to create a 26-18 halftime lead and then blitzed the Dons and opened the second half on a 12-2 run to forge a 38-20 edge not even four minutes into the half.
 
The lead blossomed to as much as 26, 60-34, with 4:30 to play following a Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) 3-pointer before the Dons closed the game on a 13-2 run against most of FGCU's reserves.
 
"Once we slowed down and got the ball moving I thought we played well offensively. We missed some shots and that was part of it, but other part is that San Francisco is better than they played," said FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. "Our defense was good. They did miss some chippies which was fortunate for us, but we did a good job protecting the paint, especially Nate."
 
Hicks – who tore his ACL in FGCU's NIT contest this past March against Florida State – entered the contest having scored just four points all year in three games. Terrell was also a spark off the bench for the Eagles as the freshman turned in his best performance to date with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 25 minutes of action.
 
Many of those minutes, 14 to be exact, came in the first half as FGCU was littered with foul trouble as five players, including two starters, each had two fouls. Utilizing their depth, the Eagles had little problem overcoming that disadvantage as they have now won four of their first five games by double figures and have defeated three of those postseason 20-win opponents from a season ago by nearly 13 a game.
 
Mark Tollefsen led San Francisco, which on Monday defeated a Hawaii team that last weekend beat Pittsburgh, with 16 points. Montray Clemons added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Tim Derksen grabbed a game-best 10 boards. Leading scorer Kruize Pinkins (20.3 per game) was saddled with foul trouble throughout the night and netted just five points in 13 minutes.
 
The Dons, picked to finish fourth in the West Coast Conference behind Gonzaga, BYU and Saint Mary's, came into the contest averaging 88.3 points per game but were held 41 points below that by an FGCU defense which is now limiting opponents to a little more than 55 points per outing. The Eagles held USF to just 21-percent shooting (6-29) in the first half and 30-percent shooting in the second half (9-30) as the 25.4 percent (15-59) for the game is the second-lowest percentage FGCU has held a non-conference opponent to since moving to Division I in 2007-08.
 
The Eagles were again without the services of leading rebounding and second-leading scorer Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy) as the Marquette transfer served the second of a three-game suspension for a violation of team rules. Jones entered the contest averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds per game. Additionally, FGCU was without highly-regarded redshirt freshman Logan Hovey (Orlando, Fla./Paul J. Hagerty HS) as the forward is day-to-day with an injury. FGCU in undefeated this year and has yet to play a game with its full complement of players.
 
Presented and hosted by bd Global, the Gulf Coast Showcase features a quality field of eight mid-major programs. In addition to FGCU, Marist, San Francisco, Evansville and Green Bay, the field includes Fresno State, East Carolina and Hawaii. Included in the eight teams are five squads which won at least 20 games from a season ago.
 
San Francisco, Fresno State (21-18), Green Bay and Hawaii (20-11) join FGCU (22-13) as the 20-win teams from last season in the field. In terms of postseason trips a season ago for the eight-team field, San Francisco, Green Bay and FGCU all participated in the NIT, while Fresno State played in the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) and East Carolina (17-17) appeared in the CIT (College Insider Tournament).
 
Tickets to all remaining games, including Wednesday's championship final, are still available and can be purchased by visiting the Germain Arena CenturyLink Box Office or online at Ticketmaster.com.
 
GAME NOTES: USF finished 14-36 (38.9 percent) from the free-throw line … Eric Moeller grabbed a season-best six rebounds as each team corralled 48 … FGCU had 19 turnovers, nearly seven above its season average … the Eagles shot just 37 percent (20-54), but a 4-6 performance from the 3-point line in the second half helped that … Thompson now has 17 career 20-point games, the most among all active A-Sun players … in total 49 fouls were called.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
General-admission tickets for all FGCU men's basketball games at Alico Arena are still available and can be purchased by logging on to FGCUAthletics.com/Tickets, in person at the Alico Arena Ticket Office or over the phone at 239-590-7145. For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men's basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, and "Like" us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB.
 
COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by second-year head coach Joe Dooley, who coached three all-conference selections during his first season and guided FGCU to its first Atlantic Sun Conference Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT. Prior to arriving in SWFL, Dooley spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Kansas under head coach Bill Self. During those 10 seasons, Kansas produced 300 wins, nine straight Big 12 regular-season titles, six Big 12 Tournament championships, six NCAA Sweet 16s, five NCAA Elite Eight appearances and two Final Fours, including the 2008 National Championship.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visitwww.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.