DUNK CITY, Fla. – For the first time in program history, the FGCU men's basketball team (23-7, 12-2 ASUN) claimed the outright ASUN regular-season championship with an 80-70 win Thursday night at a sold-out Alico Arena over Stetson (11-20, 3-11), giving the Eagles the No. 1 seed in the ASUN Championship.
 
Led by a season-high-tying 24 points from Zach Johnson, the Eagles wrapped up their second ASUN regular-season title overall (shared with Mercer in 2013-14) as they finished one game ahead of Lipscomb.
 
With Stetson's loss and NJIT's comeback win over USC Upstate, the Hatters slide from the No. 7 seed to the No. 8 seed and will be right back at Alico Arena for an ASUN quarterfinal matchup with FGCU on Monday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m.
 
FGCU secures home-court advantage throughout the ASUN Championship as the Eagles – provided they win – will host all three rounds, continuing with the semifinals on Thursday, Mar. 2, at 7 p.m., and concluding with the final next Sunday, Mar. 5, at 3 p.m. on ESPN.
 
Here are all the ASUN quarterfinal matchups:
1 FGCU (12-2) vs. 8 Stetson (3-11)
2 Lipscomb (11-3) vs. 7 NJIT (3-11)
3 North Florida (8-6) vs. 6 Jacksonville (5-9)
4 USC Upstate (7-7) vs. 5 Kennesaw State (7-7)
 
The tiebreaker for Stetson and NJIT came down to official RPI, with NJIT's 298 being better than Stetson's 333.
 
Tickets are on sale now for the quarterfinal game, and with a sellout crowd expected, fans are encouraged to secure their seats in advance by visiting FGCUTickets.com, stopping by the Alico Arena Ticket Office during normal business hours or by calling 239-590-7145.
 
A sellout crowd – in fact, a standing-room-only atmosphere of 4,700 (two shy of matching the all-time program record set in the 2014 ASUN Championship Final) – witnessed FGCU conclude its record-setting regular season on Thursday as the 23 victories are the most in the program's Division-I era (previous: 21, 2x).
 
Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) led the charge as the redshirt sophomore matched his season high in the home regular-season finale that was established in the home regular-season opener versus UT Arlington. The guard knocked down a career-best six 3-pointers – two more than his previous high and all but two of FGCU's eight 3-pointers.
 
ASUN Player of the Year candidate Brandon Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) was right on his season average with 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Rayjon Tucker (Charlotte, N.C./Northside Christian Academy) followed up a double-figure point outing on Saturday with another one as the sophomore came off the bench to net 12 points in just 16 minutes.
 
Things did not start out well for the Eagles as Stetson raced to a 17-5 lead just more than 8 minutes in. However, freshman RaySean Scott Jr. (Compton, Calif./Compton HS) and sophomore Reggie Reid (Harlem, Ga./Harlem HS) came off the bench to score 10 crucial points, and following a Johnson 3-pointer to cap a 14-2 run the Eagles tied the contest at 19-19.
 
FGCU took a slim 31-30 advantage into halftime, and it remained a one-possession game with just 5 minutes left. With Stetson up 62-60, Johnson hit a 3-pointer to put the Eagles up, 63-62, and a couple minutes later hit another to give the Eagles a 66-62 lead with 3 minutes left. From there, the Hatters would get no closer than three points the rest of the night as FGCU defeated Stetson for the 10th time in the last 11 tries; however, each of the last four meetings have been decided by 10 points or less.
 
"We relied too much on stationary jump shots in the 1st half, but I thought the guys gutted it out in the 2nd half, said 4th-year FGCU head coach Joe Dooley, whose team is now 38-4 in his tenure when scoring at least 80 points. "We controlled the backboard which helped, Zach made some big shots and Rayjon bailed us out at the rim a few times as well.
 
"Winning the regular-season title is harder than winning the postseason tournament," Dooley continued. "It says a lot about our guys to be able to grind it out for 14 games and finish 12-2. It's hard to win, and this is a big accomplishment for our program."
 
One of the program's mantra's since Dooley took over in 2013-14 has been an emphasis on rebounding, and that led directly to Thursday's win. The Eagles finished with a 48-33 edge on the glass, and 18 of those were on the offensive end, leading to a 26-6 edge in 2nd-chance points for the Green and Blue. The 26 2nd-chance points are the most in a game this year, bettering the previous mark of 24 set against then-#13 Michigan State in November.
 
After shooting just 38.7 percent (12-31) from the floor in the 1st half, FGCU – which ranks 5th in the nation in field goal percentage at .505 – connected at a 45.7-percent clip (16-35) in the 2nd half.
 
The Eagles once again took care of the ball as they finished with single-digit turnovers for the third-straight game (season-low-tying seven), resulting in a 17-8 edge in points off giveaways.
 
Stetson was led by 16 points from Derick Newton, while Brian Pegg added 13 and Divine Myles finished with 11 and a game-best eight assists. The Hatters shot 45.8 percent (27-59) for the night, compared with 42.4 percent (28-66) for FGCU.
 
FGCU is now 72-14 (.837) at Alico Arena since the start of the 2012-13 season, including a 13-3 mark this year. In ASUN games, the Eagles have been even more dominant, having now posted a 34-5 (.872) mark against league foes in the regular season in that same timeframe.
 
While it is not the goal to participate, FGCU also locked up an automatic bid to the NIT with its regular-season title.
 
NOTEWORTHY
Prior to the game, FGCU honored its two graduating seniors: Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) and Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS). Athletic department officials also recognized retiring University President Dr. Wilson Bradshaw by presenting him with a framed jersey and announcing that he and his wife, Jo Anna, would become just the department's 5th and 6th Honorary Letterwinners.
 
Additionally, several Boston Red Sox players – including FGCU product Chris Sale – were in attendance, and hung around well after the game ended, shooting baskets and interacting with fans on the court.

SOCIAL CENTRAL
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COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is in his 4th season with the Eagles in 2016-17 and has coached eight all-conference selections over his first three campaigns. Dooley guided FGCU to a 4th-straight 20-win season and 4th-consecutive postseason appearance in 2015-16 as the Eagles claimed the ASUN Tournament Championship and won their First Four NCAA Tournament game in 31-point record-setting fashion. He led FGCU to its first ASUN Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT in 2014, and in 2015 he led the Eagles to 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 8th season overall as a head coach and has a record of 145-97 (.599), and in his 3+ years with FGCU is 88-45 (.662).
 
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