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FORT MYERS, Fla. – Down to the final game on the schedule, with no room for error, the FGCU men's basketball team knew Friday night meant everything. Win, and get a bit of help, and you're in the ASUN Tournament. Lose...

The Eagles (17-14 overall, 7-11 ASUN) didn't need to finish that second sentence, exploding for 62 first-half points en route to an 89-71 victory over Austin Peay – a win that, along with Jacksonville's loss to Eastern Kentucky, locked the Green & Blue into next week's conference tournament.
 
Junior guard Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla./Westminster Academy/Stetson) equaled his season high with 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Junior guard Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville HS/Purdue) notched his seventh 20-point game in his last 10 starts, scoring 21 points. Sophomore center Andre Weir (Hollywood, Fla./Chaminade-Madonna College Prep/Richmond) added 11 points.
 
FGCU travels to take on ninth-seeded Queens (N.C.) in the first round of the ASUN Tournament at 7 p.m. Monday at Kennesaw State. FGCU dropped an 84-82 heartbreaker to the Royals on Jan. 26. A victory Monday would mean a date with the top-seeded Owls on their home court Tuesday night.
 
The Eagles entered Friday on tenuous ground, with games going on with all 14 ASUN teams that could have altered their fate as part of a staggering 128 possible seeding permutations. More succinctly, the outcomes of Queens at Liberty and Jacksonville at Eastern Kentucky games could have meant that even a victory against the visiting Governors wouldn't have been enough to lock in a postseason spot.
 
None of that mattered on the court, however, as FGCU shot a staggering 71 percent from the field in the first half – making 22 of 31 attempts from the floor to equal the 61-point performance posted against Ave Maria on Nov. 13.
 
Both Johnston and Thompson had 14 points in the scintillating 20 minutes, making seven 3-pointers between them. FGCU not only made all but nine of its attempts in the first half, it also outrebounded Austin Peay 19-8 and nearly doubled the Governors in paint production (22 points to 14) en route to a 62-37 cushion.

"I just wanted them to go out and play and have fun and enjoy this experience," said FGCU head men's basketball coach Pat Chambers. "As a staff, we treated this like our ASUN Tournament opener. 'Hey, we are lucky we get a home game!' We treated it like that, we conducted ourselves like that through preparation like we would normally during tournament play.

"We were just trying so hard against Lipscomb (on Wednesday), playing so tight, and that when shots don't go in and you make defensive mistakes, and you spot a team a 22-point lead. We are a good-shooting team, and I keep wondering if it was ever going to click on offense?"
 
The second half Friday remained just as lopsided, as FGCU extended its lead to as much as 32 points before a combination of liberal substitutions and the inevitable cooling off from a scorching shooting effort allowed the Governors to finish with an 8-0 run and hold the Eagles scoreless in the final 4:40 for the eventual 18-point margin.
 
FGCU played 13 players, including senior guard Franco Miller Jr. (Freeport, Bahamas/Crestwood Prep/Ole Miss), senior forward Chance Jackson (Tampa, Fla./Plant HS) and senior guard Lenny Ricca (Weston, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS) in their final home appearances in Green & Blue.
 
The Alico Arena faithful stayed postgame to help honor graduate guard Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Christian Academy) with a post-game video reel to commemorate his remarkable accomplishments in an FGCU uniform. Catto continues his career away from The Nest on Monday already the school record-holder in games and minutes played, and is also in the FGCU top 10 all-time in points, field goals, 3-pointers, rebounds, assists, steals, and games started.
 
Austin Peay, which ends its season at 9-22 overall and 3-15 in the ASUN, got 20 points from sophomore center Elijah Hutching-Everett, 16 from senior guard Carlos Paez and 11 each from redshirt junior forward Shon Robinson and graduate forward Cameron Copeland.
 
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 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 207 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 and No. 25 in 2022-23) 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 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 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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