Box Score

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men's basketball team (10-3) delivered clutch plays and performances Wednesday night as the Eagles escaped with an 84-81 win at Alico Arena. The victory will be remembered for hustle plays on both ends, junior forward Zach Anderson's (Apopka, Fla./Apopka HS) corner 3-pointer to break the tie, and senior forward Dakota Rivers' (Windermere, Fla./Windermere HS) game-saving blocked shot for head coach Pat Chambers' 200th career victory.

The back-and-forth thriller featured 17 lead changes and 11 ties. The Eagles won their third straight game after trailing the Golden Griffins at the break 43-42. Before Wednesday, the Eagles had allowed no more than 65 points in any of their nine wins. Faced with a Canisius team that made 13 of 30 3-pointers, FGCU went hard on the offensive end every possession to keep up – shooting a season-best 51.7 percent for the game. 

"I'm super proud of this group," Chambers said. "They showed a lot of courage, and guts, and (they were) resilient. Canisius took the lead, and went up four, and they went up five, but we kept chipping away. We stayed in the game. We could have easily felt sorry for ourselves … and they didn't do that. (We had) a very positive pulse."

Anderson finished with a game-high 22 points, tying his career best from the home opener against Ave Maria on Nov. 13, when he and senior guard Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville HS/Purdue) were the last two Eagles to each score 20-plus points in a game. Thompson finished the night with 21 points, including the pass off a drive into the paint set up Anderson's game-winner. Thompson also added a game-best four 3-pointers and shared the team-high total with six rebounds.
 
"Give Canisius a ton of credit," Chambers said. "Reggie Witherspoon is an amazing guy and a heck of a coach. It is really difficult to defend all those flares, screening actions, and baseline screens. They were on fire, they made 13 threes. They were on fire. Super proud of our guys for hanging in there. We hung in there and played the next play with attitude." 
 
FGCU finishes the non-conference portion of its season with a 10-3 mark and its best Division I non-conference win percentage at 76.92.
 
Trailing by one at halftime, though, Chambers and FGCU worked to make the Golden Griffins earn their points in the paint instead of around the perimeter. And that defensive effort showed – as Canisius shot 40.6 percent in the second half (13-of-32) after a 46.9-percent first half. 
 
A 3-pointer from redshirt freshman guard Tahj Staveskie put Canisius ahead 58-52 with 13:46 remaining, but FGCU promptly reversed that deficit with an 8-0 run capped by two spinning layups from sophomore center Andre Weir (Hollywood, Fla./Chaminade-Madonna College Prep/Richmond) to make it 60-58. 
 
Thompson and graduate guard Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) had two of FGCU's nine 3-pointers in a 7-0 stretch to go up 72-70 with 5:12 remaining. Junior guard Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla./Westminster Academy/Stetson) would also get in on the long-range act, drilling a fast-break 3-pointer with 3:16 to play for a 79-75 edge. 
 
Canisius did not surrender, though, as sophomore guard Xzavier Long drove for a layup to tie the game at 81 with 1:17 to go. Johnston turned in one of the game's most pivotal defensive plays when he snatched the ball with 38 seconds to play to give the Eagles another offensive possession. Anderson's game-winner came with 11 seconds to play after the FGCU broke the timeout huddle. 
 
"I'm really proud of Isaiah, because he did have a possible layup – which is what we wanted, to get him downhill – but he had the guts to throw it to Z.A. (Zach Anderson)," Chambers said. "Zach was ready and earned the right to make that shot. He deserves to make that shot with his routine of greatness, doing more than what is required." 
 
The Eagles turned in one final defensive effort at the buzzer as Rivers swatted away the potential game-tying 3-pointer with one second remaining. 
 
Johnston, starting his first game this season, finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and Weir added 10 points. Henderson led Canisius with 19 points, and Long added 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. 
 
FGCU evened its all-time series vs. Canisius at 1-1 with both teams winning on their home courts and Chambers improved to 3-0 against the Golden Griffins all-time.
 
FGCU returns to Alico Arena after the holiday break for its ASUN opener against Jacksonville on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m.  
 
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.  
 
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS, MINI PLANS AVAILABLE
Tickets for the 2022-23 FGCU Basketball season are on sale now and can be purchased by going online to www.FGCUTickets.com or calling 866-FGCU-TIX. Group tickets can also be purchased for 10 or more people – making a memorable evening for families, businesses, or other organizations.
 
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 CHAMBERS
Pat Chambers was officially introduced as the fifth FGCU men's basketball head coach in March 2022 bringing a wealth of experience in college basketball highlighted by head coaching stints at Penn State and Boston University. Chambers spent nine years leading the Penn State (2011-20) program and two years as head coach at Boston University (2009-11). He has 200 career victories in that span including four 20-plus win seasons. Part of his career as a head coach was highlighted by leading the Nittany Lions to a No. 9 national ranking in 2019-20 which tied the program's best-ever ranking set in 1996. Prior to becoming a head coach, he spent five seasons as part of the Villanova staff helping the Wildcats to a Final Four (2009), two Elite Eight, and three Sweet Sixteen appearances during his tenure.
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/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 https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.    
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 26 consecutive semesters. The past six semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative 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.
 
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