DUNK CITY, Fla. – The top-seeded FGCU men's basketball team (22-10) used a blistering 2nd half to run away from 8th-seeded USC Upstate (7-25) Monday night in the quarterfinals of the ASUN Tournament, 96-76, advancing to the semifinals for seventh-straight year the program has been Division-I postseason eligible.
 
Zach Johnson narrowly missed his career high with a team-best 26 points, while Antravious Simmons and Christian Terrell both had 18 points. Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS) added eight rebounds, while Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) delivered a career-high eight assists to go along with six rebounds.
 
FGCU set program ASUN Tournament records for most points in a game and highest field-goal percentage (59.7, 37-62), and tied its mark for most 3-pointers made with 11. After leading by just three at halftime, 39-36, the Eagles exploded for 57 2nd-half points – nearly equaling the 59 they tallied in 2nd half a couple weeks ago at Upstate to secure the outright regular-season title.
 
The Eagles – who are now 7-0 all-time in the ASUN Tournament quarterfinals – advance to host 5th-seeded North Florida (14-18) on Thursday, Mar. 1, at 7 p.m. The Ospreys – who fell to the Eagles in last year's ASUN Championship Final – went to Newark and knocked off 4th-seeded NJIT, 80-76.
 
An ASUN First Team selection, Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) finished one point shy of his career high on 11-17 shooting while also adding four rebounds and three assists in 37 minutes.
 
"That was one of the best all-around performances we've had since I've been here," commented two-time defending ASUN Coach of the Year Joe Dooley in reference to Johnson's evening. "He was on a roll, and most importantly was efficient and made the right play. CT (Terrell) was great as well and made some important passes out of traps, and Trey (Simmons) gave us a solid low-post presence."
 
Leading the ASUN in scoring defense, FGCU uncharacteristically allowed the Spartans to shoot 52 percent (14-27) from the floor en route to that aforementioned three-point intermission margin. However, that script flipped in the second stanza as the Green and Blue limited Upstate to just 35-percent shooting (13-37) while connecting at a torrid 68-percent rate (21-31) of their own.
 
Those shooting clips – combined with FGCU only turning the ball over a season-low four times – propelled the Eagles to a +17 scoring differential in the closing 20 minutes.
 
Holding just a four-point lead, 58-54, with a little over 13 minutes remaining, FGCU was the recipient of four technical free throws after Upstate's Mike Cunningham and head coach Kyle Perry were each whistled. Dinero Mercurius (Orlando, Fla./Daytona State/UTRGV/USF/Faith Baptist Christian HS) stepped up and made all free throws, and the Eagles followed it up with layups from Simmons and RaySean Scott Jr. (Compton, Calif./Compton HS) to complete an 8-0 run.
 
That created a 66-54 cushion for the hosts, and FGCU never led by fewer than eight the rest of the night.
 
Cunningham led all scorers with 28, while Malik Moore added 17 points and seven rebounds and Ramel Thompkins netted 14 points to go along with nine rebounds as the Spartans ended up shooting 42 percent from the floor (27-64).
 
Upstate went 13-36 from 3-point range (36 percent), but the Eagles were much more efficient from behind the arc, going 11-20 (55 percent). The 11 triples were one shy of matching a season high.
 
FGCU extends its all-time record in ASUN Tournament games to 15-3 (.833), by far the best among all current ASUN teams. In fact, North Florida (9-7, .563) is the only other current league member with a better-than-.500 record in ASUN Tournament games.
 
FGCU continued its stretch of not having all 12 scholarship players available for any game this year as Christian Carlyle (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny HS) remained out for the sixth-straight with an ankle injury.
 
The Eagles once again utilized their superior interior as they outscored the Spartans in the paint, 40-20. In the three meetings between the two sides this year, FGCU outscored Upstate in the paint, 136-62.
 
The Green and Blue will look to take advantage of that low-block force once again on Thursday as the Eagles have dominated the Ospreys in the paint this year, outscoring them by a combined total of 122-56 in two matchups this year. FGCU went to Jacksonville and won in the first contest despite missing three key players – including ASUN Player of the Year Brandon Goodwin – by a 96-87 margin, and then defeated the Ospreys at The Nest, 103-70.
 
NOTES: Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) scored nine points and dished out four assists … FGCU passed out 20 assists … the Eagles had a 29-5 advantage in bench points … Scott Jr. netted eight points and Mercurius finished with nine.
 
SOCIAL CENTRAL
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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 10 all-conference selections in that time. He has led FGCU to 20 win seasons and postseason appearances in all five years: 2014 NIT; 2015 CIT; 2016 NCAA; 2017 NCAA; 2018 NCAA/NIT. Dooley was named the 2017 and 2018 ASUN Coach of the Year, in addition to 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 170-108 (.612), and in his 4+ years with FGCU is 113-56 (.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 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 visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.