FORT MYERS, Fla. – Despite 24 points from Tavian Dunn-Martin (Huntington, W. Va./Huntington/Akron/Duquesne) and Kevin Samuel's (Codrington Village, Barbuda/Redemption Christian/TCU) 10th double-double of the season, the FGCU men's basketball team fell to Bellarmine, 74-63, on Saturday night at Alico Arena. The Knights ouscored the Eagles 36-17 in the final 14 minutes of play erasing an eight-point second half deficit.

The cross-divisional loss droped FGCU to 13-9 on the season and 3-5 in the ASUN, while the Knights, currently the No. 2 team in the West Division, improve to 13-9 and 7-1 in conference play.

"Credit Bellarmine; they are a very good defensive team and I think their style took out some of our rhythm late in the game," said head coach Michael Fly. "Defensively, we were able to force them into shots that weren't always high percentage or what their system was designed to open up, but on the flip side, we needed to hit a few more three pointers to force them to open up defensively. I thought the stretch late where we weren't hitting shots was amplified by the number of charge calls which then made us a bit cautious driving the lane."

Dunn-Martin's 24 points came on 7-of-18 shooting including six three pointers. Samuel scored 10 points while posting 10 rebounds, four assists, and a block. His block gives him 61 this season, moving him into ninth place on FGCU's all-time career list, surpassing Eddie Murray (2008-13).

Bellarmine was led by 23 points from CJ Fleming and 20 points by Dylan Penn. Ethan Claycomb and Alec Pfriem also reached double figures scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Eagles jumped out to an 18-9 lead to begin the game, but Bellarmine responded with nine straight to tie the game. The Knights eventually took the lead and looked like they would take a 31-27 lead into the locker room, but redshirt-junior Franco Miller, Jr. (Freeport, Bahamas/Ole Miss) hit a running three at the buzzer to cut the FGCU deficit to just one at the half.

Out of the break, Dunn-Martin hit a three to give the Eagles the lead which was followed by a dunk by Samuel to extend the lead to five.

Back-to-back three pointers from Dunn-Martin and senior Austin Richie (Glenwood, Ill./Bloom HS/Northern Illinois/Triton College/Tulsa) gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the night at 46-38 with 13:58 remaining in the game.

The tide turned after that as the Eagles hit just three of their next 17 shots, allowing Bellarmine to take the lead and eventually expand it to as much as 14.

Overall, FGCU shot 22-of-61 (36%) from the floor, while Bellarmine was 26-of-60 (43%). The Eagles hit 13 triples compared to eight for the Knights.

FGCU will return to the court on Thursday when they travel to Central Arkansas to take on the Bears for the first time in program history. Tip-off from Conway is set for 8:45 p.m. eastern and is the second game of a double-header with the 20th-ranked women's basketball team. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
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.

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 202-141 record (.589 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 87 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 43 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.