ALBANY, N.Y. – The FGCU men's basketball team (2-0) used a big 2nd half to run away from Siena (0-2) Monday night at the Times Union Center as the Eagles stormed to a dominant 86-53 win, claiming their 10th-straight road victory.
 
The 10-consecutive triumphs away from home extends what is the 2nd-longest road winning streak in the nation, behind only an 11-game run by 2017 national runner-up Gonzaga.
 
Brandon Goodwin and Christian Terrell led all scorers with 16 points each, spearheading an FGCU attack which had four players in double figures and Ricky Doyle (Cape Coral, Fla./Michigan/Bishop Verot HS) just miss a double-double by a single point with nine points and a career- and game-best 11 rebounds. Dinero Mercurius came off the bench to net 14 points, while Zach Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) added 13 points.
 
The Eagles – who led the nation in points in the paint per game a season ago at 41.3 – have started off 2017-18 right where they left off as they blitzed Siena in the paint, 50-16. Just two days prior they tallied 48 points in the paint as part of a 98-87 win over defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Illinois State in the season opener.
 
FGCU also finished the night with a 48-33 edge in rebounding, and a 17-6 advantage off fastbreak points as head coach Joe Dooley used every available player.
 
"We had a number of guys play a lot of minutes on Saturday, so we tried to be pretty conservative tonight and sub earlier and more often," said Dooley, who claimed his 150th career win as a head coach. "Ricky got us off to a good start – and I didn't necessarily think we played great early – but we were able to make a couple runs in the 1st half to create some separation. Then in the 2nd half we got off to a sluggish start, but we kept getting stops defensively and were able to get out and run to open the game up."
 
The Eagles shot 51.6 percent (33-64) from the floor for the game while limiting Siena to just 30.2 percent (19-63), including only a 3-15 clip from 3-point range.
 
Facing a 2-3 zone, the Eagles wasted little time in shooting over that defense and attacking with their patented interior presence. An Antravious Simmons layup at the 17:52 mark of the 1st half put the FGCU in front, 6-5, and the Green and Blue never trailed after that.
 
The opening-half lead ballooned to 14 late in the stanza before the Eagles settled for 40-27 lead at the intermission. Leading the offensive charge in the opening 20 minutes was Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS), who made all five of his field goal attempts and both efforts from 3-point range to tally 12 points in his 13 minutes of 1st-half action.
 
After a slow, sloppy start to begin the 2nd half for FGCU, the veteran and talented team regrouped. Siena trimmed its deficit to just eight, 43-35, at the 14:22 mark, but the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run, keyed by an important baseline 3-pointer from Mercurius (Orlando, Fla./Daytona State/UTRGV/USF/Faith Baptist Christian HS) – who now has six 3s through his first two games as an Eagle.
 
The two sides – who met last year in Fort Myers as part of a 73-69 FGCU win – traded buckets the next few possessions before the Eagles marched the Saints out of their own building on their home-opening night.
 
With the score 58-40 at the 9:44 mark, FGCU went on an extended 24-8 run over the next seven minutes to open up a 34-point lead with a few minutes remaining before the largest margin of 35 occurred in the closing seconds following a jumper from walk-on Dolan Mahoney (Bradenton, Fla./IMG Academy).
 
Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) started and scored seven points while grabbing eight rebounds. Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) added a game-best four assists and a pair of steals, while Terrell contributed five rebounds.
 
Now in his 9th season as a head coach – 5th with FGCU – Dooley is 150-98 overall and 93-46 with the Eagles.
 
Siena – which opened its season Friday on the road by taking Colonial Athletic Association preseason favorite College of Charleston to overtime before falling by eight – was led offensively by Khalil Richard with 12 points off the bench to represent the lone double-figure scorer for the Saints, who were held to just a 25.8-percent rate (8-31) from the floor in the 2nd half.
 
FGCU returns to campus before heading back on the road later this week for a matchup at Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m. The Falcons are 1-1 on the year after opening the season with a 78-69 win at Drexel before falling at home on Monday night to South Dakota, 88-79.
 
NOTEWORTHY: True freshmen Brian Thomas (Kennesaw, Ga./Kell HS) and Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Shiloh HS/Believe Prep/Indian Land HS) made their collegiate debuts in the 1st half, with Thomas scoring his first points in the 2nd half … freshman walk-on Ryan McAdoo (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews HS) also made his first appearance.
 
IRMA RELIEF DONATIONS
In the wake of Hurricane Irma, many individuals and families throughout Southwest Florida are still in desperate need of assistance. To aid in those relief efforts, FGCU Athletics will be collecting donations at all Eagle home games for the immediate future. Donation items most needed include: non-perishable food, clothing, household items and first-aid supplies. Additionally, those unable to attend upcoming home games can drop off donations in canisters located in the Alico Arena lobby. All donations will be given to those hardest hit in Lee and Collier counties.
 
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 5th season with the Eagles in 2017-18 and has coached eight all-conference selections in that time. He has led FGCU to 20+ win seasons and postseason appearances in all four years: 2014 NIT; 2015 CIT; 2016 NCAA; 2017 NCAA. Dooley was named the 2017 ASUN Coach of the Year and the 2017 NABC District 3 Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to a D-I program record 26 wins. In 8+ seasons overall as a head coach, Dooley has a record of 150-98 (.605), and in his 4+ years with FGCU is 93-46 (.669). 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 FourPrios, 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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.