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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Time after time in the past four weeks, the FGCU men's basketball team has seen its fair share of misfortune against an ASUN gauntlet. With their backs against the proverbial postseason wall Thursday night, the Green & Blue went to an unlikely place to earn a victory.
 
The bank.
 
Junior forward Dakota Rivers (Windermere, Fla./Windermere HS) banked in an improbable corner 3 with 12.9 seconds remaining, and the Eagles (15-11 overall, 5-8 ASUN Conference) delivered a clutch final defensive stop to lift FGCU over North Florida 68-66 Thursday night at UNF Arena.
 
FGCU snapped a five-game losing streak, and earned a valuable W in the race to clinch one of the 10 ASUN Tournament berths. North Florida, which was swept by the Eagles this season, fell to 10-15 and 5-8.
 
Rivers' triple was the exclamation point on his team- and career-high 13-point night – an outing that saw him go 5-for-6 from the floor to go with two assists. Rivers scored 11 of his points in a second half that saw the Eagles shoot 58.3 percent in the final 20 minutes.
 
Graduate guard Caleb Catto (Cape Coral, Fla./Southwest Florida Florida Christian Academy) delivered 12 points, junior guard Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla./Westminster Academy/Stetson) scored 11 points and sophomore forward Zach Anderson (Apopka, Fla./Apopka HS) added 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
 
The Eagles turned in arguably their most complete game of the ASUN slate: shooting 51.9 percent from the floor while holding North Florida to 43.1 percent. FGCU swiped eight steals (with three coming from Catto) and outscored the bigger Ospreys 36-30 in the paint.
 
"I am really proud of this group, because they could have easily packed it up – both the last couple weeks and down the stretch in this one," said FGCU head men's basketball coach Pat Chambers. "We went down five at one point in the second half and were really in the danger zone, and responded right away to stay in it.
 
"Defense won us this game. We finally got a lucky bounce, and we will take it – because in the last four weeks or so, teams have gotten some fortuitous bounces against us. We will continue to get better, though, and be the best team we can be in March."
 
Both teams started sluggish in the first half, scoring a combined 25 points in the first 10 minutes. Neither team held more than a four-point lead in the first half, with FGCU taking a 32-31 edge into halftime. North Florida would have been further behind if not for sophomore forward Jayden Parker, who poured in 12 of his game-high 16 points in the fist 20 minutes.
 
UNF junior guard Jarius Hincklen buried a 3-pointer with 16:34 to play to give the Ospreys a 43-38 lead, only to see Catto and Anderson score in the paint to keep the Eagles within range. Catto continued to slash UNF inside, scoring within close range with 8:17 remaining to take a 54-50 edge.
 
After that, however, the two teams stayed within a basket of each other until UNF redshirt junior guard Dorian James hit a jumper for a 64-41 lead with 1:57 to go. FGCU junior guard Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville HS/Purdue) responded, however, with a driving jumper and two free throws for a 65-64 lead with 1:05 to play.
 
The Ospreys grabbed the lead right back on redshirt junior guard Jose Placer's off-balance floater with 39 seconds remaining, but UNF lost track of Rivers in the far corner for the eventual winning 3. FGCU then turned in a final defensive stop, forcing UNF into three contested shot attempts and Thompson bear-hugged a long rebound as the buzzer sounded.
 
The Green & Blue remain in Duval County for another critical conference game Saturday night, taking on Jacksonville (12-12, 5-8) at 4 p.m. North Florida plays host to Stetson on Saturday afternoon.
 
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 205 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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