JACKSONVILLE – The FGCU men's basketball team (13-11, 4-4 A-Sun) fought back from a 15-point second-half deficit to trail by just one in the closing seconds, but the Eagles couldn't complete the comeback and suffered their fourth-straight loss with an 83-80 setback at Jacksonville (14-11, 6-2 A-Sun) Monday night.
 
Redshirt freshman Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) finished one point shy of matching his career high with a game-best 25 points, and redshirt junior Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) added 22 points, but FGCU dropped four-straight games in the A-Sun for the first time since 2010-11, and lost four overall for the first time since 2011-12.
 
FGCU never led, and faced a 65-50 deficit with 11 minutes remaining before going on a 15-2 run to pull within 67-65 with just under 6 minutes left. After JU took a timeout, the Dolphins responded with a 5-0 spurt and maintained a seven-point lead, 78-71, with 2:30 showing.
 
The young Eagles once again showed grit and had the ball down 79-77, but without a timeout the final 12 minutes of the contest they couldn't set up a play and Johnson committed a turnover with 9 seconds left. A pair of JU free throws were answered by a Johnson 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining, but two more Dolphins' free throws with .6 left provided the winning margin.
 
"We dug ourselves a tremendous hole, but the guys did a nice job of getting back in the game to make it a one-possession contest in the closing seconds," commented FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. "There's a lot of things we can learn with so many young guys. We were more aggressive in the second half, we drove it downhill and didn't pass it side-to-side. We played East-West the whole first half, took some contested shots and got flustered because of it."
 
The Eagles shot 56.7 percent (34-60) from the floor – by far their best performance in a loss this year and third-highest percentage of the season. FGCU out-shot JU as the Dolphins connected at a 52.6-percent clip (30-57), but only committed five turnovers. FGCU also scored 50 points in the paint for the second-straight game, out-scoring JU by 18 in that category.
 
The Dolphins – who made 17-25 free throws compared with 5-7 for the Eagles – were led by J.R. Holder with 23 points, while Kori Babineaux added 22 as Jacksonville won its fourth in a row. Marcel White added 18 points, and Darien Fernandez tallied 12. Josh Adeyeye – who scored the most points ever against FGCU in the program's Division-I era on Wednesday with 35 – was held scoreless and attempted just one shot.
 
Norelia added a game-high-tying seven rebounds – a total matched by freshman Rayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) – as the Eagles finished with a 30-27 rebounding edge. Tucker added six points in an A-Sun-high 32 minutes, while redshirt senior Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./Rice/St. John College HS) moved within five points of 1,000 for his career with a nine-point evening. Redshirt sophomore Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) posted eight points, and sophomore Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) scored five points and grabbed six rebounds – all in the first half.
 
The loss levels FGCU's A-Sun record at 4-4 and ties the Eagles with NJIT for 3rd place in the league. Jacksonville remains in sole possession of 2nd place at 6-2 and is now just one game behind leader North Florida, which was stunned at home Monday night by Stetson, 86-82, snapping the Ospreys' 18-game home-court winning streak and sending them to 7-1 in the conference.
 
FGCU – which trimmed a 13-point second-half deficit at North Florida down to two on Saturday night – will against face UNF this Saturday when the Eagles return home for a 7 p.m. tipoff with the Ospreys from Alico Arena.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
Single-game tickets are currently on sale for all remaining home contests. 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 114-87 (.567), and in his 2+ years with FGCU is 57-35 (.620).
 
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.