MARIETTA, Ga. – Coming off a two-week pause due to COVID-19 protocols, the FGCU men's basketball team (9-7, 4-5 ASUN) fell to Kennesaw State (5-18, 2-13 ASUN) on Friday night at Life University's Eagles Nest Arena. The loss drops the Eagles into fifth place in the league standings while North Florida moved into fourth.
 
FGCU was led by junior Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) who scored 14 points while adding seven rebounds with five assists. Sophomore Cyrus Largie (Miramar, Fla./Mater Lakes Academy) and and junior Dom London (Christiana, Pa./Harcum College) each tallied 12 points who were each 5-of-10 from the floor. Both senior Jalen Warren and Franco Miller, Jr., were injured in the first half and limited to just 12 and 13 minutes, respectively.
 
"Credit KSU for being the better team tonight. I thought we played well for a stretch in the second half when we cut the lead to four," said head coach Michael Fly. "I was encouraged to see Dom and Victor Rosa (9 points) step up after Jalen and Franco were injured in the first half. We couldn't sustain our run at the end of the second half. We'll regroup, watch the film, and look forward to getting back on the floor tomorrow."
 
Kennesaw State received a game-high 20 points from Terrell Burden and 18 points from Spencer Rodgers. Chris Youngblood added 13 points, while Nate Springs posted 10 points to round out the top scorers.
 
The Owls shot 50-percent from the floor (32-of-64), while the Eagles hit just 36-percent of their attempts (24-of-66). KSU also converted 15 FGCU turnovers into 24 points.
 
Early in the game FGCU jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the first four minutes of play as Catto hit three triples for the quick burst. The Owls responded with eight unanswered to go up 14-10 with 15:09 left in the first half.
 
Kennesaw State pushed the lead to 13 with 10:49 to go before back-to-back buckets from the Eagles pulled them back within single digits. The Owls went on a 16-to-5 run to close out the final nine minutes taking a 47-27 lead at the break.
 
The Eagles began to rallied back in the second half with a 7-to-0 run coming out of the intermission highlighted by five points from London. FGCU continued to chip away the lead that included scoring nine straight to pull within four, 54-50, with 11:48 remaining.
 
Both teams traded buckets including a triple by Rosa at the 10:23 to keep within four, 59-55.
 
That proved as close that FGCU could get as KSU went on a 21-to-9 run over the final 10 minutes of play.
 
For complete coverage of FGCU men's basketball, follow the Eagles on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FGCU_MBB and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU men's basketball and other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.


Friday's Schedule: Feb. 26
North Florida 79, Stetson 74
FGCU 63, Kennesaw State 80

Upcoming Schedule: Feb. 27
Liberty at Bellarmine – 12 PM
North Florida at Stetson – 2 PM
Lipscomb at North Alabama – 3 PM
FGCU at Kennesaw State – 6 PM
 
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
 
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 173-115 record (.603 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).
 
#FEEDFGCU
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 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) 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 (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. 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.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--