FORT MYERS, Fla. – After a slow first half, the FGCU men's basketball team used a hot shooting second half to rally back from a 12-point deficit for a 67-55 win over Mercer on Sunday afternoon at Alico Arena. The Eagles won their fourth straight and ninth of the last 10 games to improve to 10-3 overall, while the Bears fell to 7-5 overall. The loss for Mercer snapped a five-game win streak.
 
"I thought this was a character win for our team. We didn't play like ourselves in the first half, though I thought we did defend really well. We stressed in the locker room that if they just keep playing and shooting, the numbers would work in our favor," said head coach Michael Fly. "We also managed to change the tempo of the game which played in our favor by speeding things up. They continued to defend, continued to rebound, continued to believe in each other which I thought highlighted a nice win over a really good Mercer team."
 
The 10-3 record is the best start to a season in the program's Division I era. The Eagles will have a chance on Wednesday night at Canisius (7 PM, ESPN3) to tie the 2016-17 squad for the most non-conference wins in the D-I era – that year the Eagles were 11-5 to close out the calendar year. The program's best start to a season all-time is 14-0 by the 2003-04 team.
 
Tavian Dunn-Martin (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington HS/Akron/Duquesne) and Kevin Samuel [Codrington Village, Barbuda/Redemption HS (Texas)/TCU] each finished with double-doubles to lead FGCU. Dunn-Martin had a game-high 20 points to go with 12 assists, four rebounds, and two steals. He scored 18 of his points, highlighted by a 4-of-7 effort beyond the arc, and had nine assists in the second half to spark the rally. Samuel scored 11 points and hauled in 10 rebounds to go with three assists and two blocks. Cyrus Largie (Miramar, Fla./Mater Lakes Academy) just missed a double-double with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Matt Halvorsen (Kingsport, Tenn./Christ School/Western Carolina) hit a trio of triples to finish with 11 points.
 
Mercer was led by James Glisson III and Jalen Johnson who scored 19 and 18 points, respectively. Johnson had a double-double with a game-high 12 boards. Felipe Haase rounded out the top scorers with 11 points.
 
The game was a tale of two halves for the Eagles as they shot just 27.6 percent in the first half before hitting 60 percent from the floor in the second. Mercer held a 26-18 lead at the intermission thanks to a 12-to-0 run with four three pointers to close out the first half.
 
After going just 1-of-12 from beyond the arc in the first half, FGCU was 7-of-14 in the second. The Eagles hit four-of-five three pointers as part of a decisive 16-to-0 run late in the second half to go from trailing by five to leading 63-52 with 4:11 remaining. Dunn-Martin sparked the run with a three-pointer at the 7:19 mark followed by a lay-up and three-pointer from Largie. A dunk by Samuel was followed by consecutive triples from Halvorsen and Dunn-Martin as Alico Arena came alive.
 
In the last seven minutes of the game, FGCU locked down defensively holding the Bears to just three points. Overall, the Eagles were solid with eight steals, three blocks, and a 40-to-33 edge in rebounds while holding Mercer to just five second chance points. Despite taking the lead into halftime, Mercer shot just 37 percent in the first half. That dropped to 33 percent in the second including 3-of-15 from deep. The 20 made field goals and six made free throws are marked season-lows for a FGCU opponent.
 
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COACH FLY
Michael Fly was introduced as the fourth FGCU men's basketball head coach on April 5, 2018. He had spent the previous seven years as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff. In his time with the Eagles, he helped FGCU to a 199-137 record (.585 winning percentage), including six ASUN Tournament Final appearances, three NCAA Tournament victories, three ASUN Tournament titles and three ASUN Regular Season Championships, two berths in the NIT, a CIT appearance and a run to the Sweet 16. He has coached 13 all-conference selections while with the Green and Blue, including two ASUN Player of the Year honors in Sherwood Brown and Brandon Goodwin, two ASUN Defensive Player of the Year selections in Bernard Thompson and Demetris Morant and one ASUN Newcomer of the Year in Schadrac Casimir. Of the top-10 players in career points at FGCU, Fly has helped develop eight of them, including all-time leading scorer Thompson (1,835). Additionally, the Kentucky alumnus has coached both the ASUN all-time assists leader Brett Comer (845; 24th in NCAA history) and FGCU all-time leading rebounder Chase Fieler (714).
 
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FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 86 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 42 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 25, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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