JACKSONVILLE – The FGCU men's basketball team (18-8, 9-0 ASUN) was never seriously threatened Saturday night on the road against the team closest to it in the league standings as the Eagles rolled to an 80-55 win over Jacksonville (12-14, 6-3 ASUN).
 
With the victory, FGCU remains unbeaten in conference action and stretches its winning streak to a Division-I program record 11 in a row – tied for the 7th longest in the nation. Additionally, the Eagles have now clipped off 11 straight on the road in ASUN action dating back to the end of the 2015-16 season.
 
After FGCU's sixth double-figure league victory – and fifth of 15 points or more – the Eagles grabbed a stranglehold of the ASUN regular-season race. FGCU opened up a three-game lead – and four-game cushion when factoring in the tiebreaker – with only five league matchups left as Jacksonville remains in sole possession of 2nd place.
 
The Eagles – who have won their nine ASUN games by an average of 18.2 points – could wrap up at least a share of the regular-season title as early as its next game on Thursday, Feb. 8, at NJIT. FGCU's magic number to clinch its second-straight outright regular-season crown is only two. With a win over NJIT and a Jacksonville loss at Lipscomb, the Eagles will at least share the title on Thursday already. With wins at NJIT and at USC Upstate on Saturday, FGCU will clinch the regular-season race outright regardless of any other league outcomes.
 
The talented backcourt duo of Zach Johnson (25) and Brandon Goodwin (24) dominated Jacksonville's interior defense on Saturday as the guards nearly outscored JU's entire team with their 49 points. Dinero Mercurius added 11 as the only other double-figure scorer for the Eagles, who shot 48.5 percent (32-66) from the floor and held the Dolphins to 39.2 percent (20-51).
 
"We played a really strong game, and – for the most part – put together a full 40 minutes," said FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. "We had some lapses on both ends of the floor in spots in the 1st half and early in the 2nd half, but we responded well. We took care of the ball, Zach and Brandon played terrific to set the tone and we had a pretty good defensive performance as well."
 
That defensive effort included FGCU holding its fifth ASUN opponent this year below 60 points. The other seven teams in the league combined have accomplished that feat just two times in 27 games.
 
After shooting only 42 percent (13-31) in the 1st half but still taking a 33-25 lead into halftime, FGCU had its lead cut to five, 35-30, two minutes into the 2nd half. However, a defensive stand started what eventually was an impressive 45-25 closing stretch for the Eagles.
 
With the ball and a chance to make it a one-possession game at the 18-minute mark, JU was forced into a last-second shot clock fadeway jumper by FGCU's stout defense. That miss led to a Goodwin (Norcross, Ga./UCF/Norcross HS) fastbreak layup to spearhead a 9-0 Dunk City response.
 
After Goodwin's layup, Johnson (Miami, Fla./Norland HS) immediately stole the inbound pass which resulted in a RaySean Scott Jr. layup. Johnson then drove baseline to throw down a two-handed slam on FGCU's next trip, and converted a 3-pointer from the opposite baseline next time down the floor to cap the 9-0 spurt as the Eagles led by double figures the rest of the evening.
 
The Eagles – who are now five games better than their previous-best ASUN start – turned the ball over a season-low-tying eight times and converted 19 JU miscues into a season-best 25 points.
 
The Green and Blue went to its bread and butter as the Eagles once again posted a dominant advantage in the paint, out-scoring the Dolphins there, 46-22. It's the 24th time in 26 tries that FGCU – which led the nation in paint points last year – have tied or out-scored its opponent in the paint. Over the past five games, FGCU has scored 256 paint points (51.2 per game).
 
Jace Hogan led Jacksonville with 17 points, while Tanner Rubio added 13 as the only double-figure scorers for the Dolphins, who were also out-rebounded by the Eagles, 39-34.
 
Scott Jr. (Compton, Calif./Compton HS) secured eight points and six rebounds in a starting role in his second game back after missing four contests with a concussion. Johnson added four steals and six rebounds – tied for the team high along with Scott Jr. and Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./VCU/South Miami HS).
 
While he scored just two points, Jacksonville native Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) stuffed the stat sheet with five rebounds, a game-best six assists and a steal in 31 minutes.
 
The victory secured FGCU's 100th all-time ASUN win (100-81). After going just 33-61 in ASUN play from 2008-12, the Eagles are 67-20 since 2013.
 
The 11-game winning streak is one better than the previous D-I program record of 10 set by the 2014-15 team. The longest winning streak in program history is 14 set twice in the D-II era (2003-04 and 2006-07).
 
Making the performance this year even more impressive is that FGCU hasn't had a single game yet this season where all 12 scholarship players have been healthy/eligible. That continued on Saturday as FGCU won despite not having Ricky Doyle (Cape Coral, Fla./Michigan/Bishop Verot HS) (concussion protocol). The Eagles are optimistic the 6-10 forward will return for their road trip next week.
 
That five-day journey begins on Wednesday when the Eagles travel to NJIT (12-12, 5-4 ASUN) for a contest on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. before heading to USC Upstate (6-20, 1-8 ASUN) for a game on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 4 p.m.
 
NOTEWORTHY: FGCU now leads the all-time series, 12-11 … there is only one remaining ASUN team the Eagles don't have a winning record against (Lipscomb, 9-11) … the Eagles finished with a 10-0 edge in fastbreak points … Mercurius (Orlando, Fla./Daytona State/UTRGV/USF/Faith Baptist Christian HS) scored eight of his 11 points in the 2nd half.
 
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 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 166-106 (.610), and in his 4+ years with FGCU is 109-54 (.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.