DUNK CITY, Fla. – Redshirt freshman Zach Johnson scored 26 points and sophomore Christian Terrell added 21, but the FGCU men's basketball team (3-2) dug itself too big of a deficit and had its three-game winning streak come to an end Monday night, 82-77, to Bowling Green (3-2) in the final game of the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic at Alico Arena.
 
Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) tallied 22 of his career-high point total in the second half, while Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) netted 17 in the second half as he finished one point shy of matching his career best. Both of those underclassmen came off the bench as the Eagles received 58 points from its bench compared with 23 from two Bowling Green players.
 
BGSU had leads as large as 16 in the second half, but FGCU was able to trim the deficit to four on. However, it couldn't string enough stops together defensively to complete the comeback. The Falcons had an answer nearly every time for the Eagles, and most of them came in the paint as BGSU uncharacteristically out-scored FGCU in that area, 44-39.
 
"I give Bowling Green a ton of credit. They took the fight to us right from the start and we were on our heels most of the night," commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. "Their energy and rebounding were major factors. Once we got the deficit back to a manageable number, we weren't able to get the defensive stops we needed and we didn't rebound the ball. Zach and Christian made some big plays, but hopefully this is a learning point for us."
 
FGCU started slow for the third-consecutive night and led just once the entire night – 3-2 following a Filip Cvjeticanin (Zagreb, Croatia/American School of Madrid) 3-pointer at the 17:53 mark of the first half. The Eagles faced a halftime deficit for the third-straight night as well, 35-25, after shooting just 35.5 percent (11-31) in the opening 20 minutes. However, unlike the first two nights, the Green and Blue couldn't complete the comeback.
 
The Falcons held the aforementioned 16-point lead on two occasions, the last at the 14:30 mark, 46-30, before the Eagles started to cut into the margin. Johnson and Terrell combined to score 11 of FGCU's next 18 points as it trimmed the deficit to just six, 54-48, at the 10-minute mark. BGSU extended the lead back to 10, but the Eagles continued to fight, and following a Terrell layup with less than a minute remaining had the Falcons' lead down to 78-74. However, that would be as close the Eagles would get.
 
The Eagles were out-rebounded, 40-28, and allowed BGSU to score 82 points despite making only five 3-pointers. Spencer Parker and Zack Denny each posted double-doubles for the Falcons with 22 points and 10 rebounds for Parker and 18 points and 11 rebounds for Denny. Ismail Ali netted 13 points off the bench, while Antwon Lillard added 10 for BGSU, which shot 57.7 percent (15-26) from the floor in the second half.
 
Redshirt seniors Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./Rice/St. John College HS) and Cvjeticanin contributed eight and seven points, respectively, as FGCU once again received most of its offensive production from underclassmen. Terrell grabbed six rebounds and connected on 6-7 of his attempts from the free-throw line, while Johnson was extremely efficient by going 11-13 from the floor – with the .846 percentage ranking as the fourth-best in Division-I program history.
 
After shooting poorly from the floor in the first half, FGCU once again found its stride in the second half as it connected at a 63-percent clip (17-27) in the final 20 minutes – the second-consecutive game in which the Eagles shot 63 percent from the floor in the second stanza.
 
The loss is just the eighth at home for FGCU since the 2012-13 season as the Eagles are now 46-8 inside Alico Arena in that timeframe.
 
FGCU will look to bounce back as it travels to Gainesville to face the University of Florida (3-1) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on the SEC Network as it will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Gators ended the Eagles' historical run to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed in 2013.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
An extremely limited amount of season tickets are still available for the 2015-16 FGCU men's basketball season. Single-game tickets are currently on sale. For the latest ticket information, log on to FGCUAthletics.com or call the Alico Arena Ticket Office at 239-590-7145.

SOCIAL CENTRAL
For up-to-the-minute information and behind-the-scenes access to the men's basketball program, follow @FGCU_MBB on Twitter and Instagram, Like us on Facebook at /FGCUMBB and watch us on Snapchat at FGCU_MBB.
 
COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is in his third year with the Eagles in 2015-16 and coached six all-conference selections during his first two seasons. He guided FGCU to its first Atlantic Sun Conference Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT in 2014, and in 2015 he led the Eagles to their third-straight 20-win season and third-straight postseason appearance with a berth in the CIT. 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. Dooley is in his seventh season overall as a head coach and has a record of 104-78 (.571), and in his two years with FGCU is 47-26 (.644).

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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.