Keeshawn Kellman scored 17 points,
Dallion Johnson added 10 and Florida Gulf Coast University made enough plays and got enough stops to grind out a 59-57 win over Jacksonville University Friday night in Jacksonville, Fla., to close out the Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball regular season.
The Eagles (14-17, 8-8 ASUN) close out the regular season in a tie for sixth in the conference standings with North Alabama; however, due to UNA's one-point win earlier this season at home over FGCU, UNA earns the No. 6 seed for the ASUN Championship and FGCU is seeded at No. 7. With 10 teams going to the conference's championship tournament, the Eagles will face No. 8-seeded Queens in a first round contest in DeLand, Fla., with the winner facing No. 2-seed Stetson the next night.
But on Friday night, the Eagles were able to pull out a victory to close the regular season against a defensive-minded Jacksonville squad. "When you play at their place, it's a slugfest," said FGCU head coach
Pat Chambers. "Our guys were really resilient. I told everyone before the game that this was going to be a character game. It's going to show a lot of character, a lot of toughness, and a lot of resiliency."
The Eagles scored first on a Kellman dunk to close the opening possession and never trailed the duration of the game.
Franco Miller, Jr., would drain a 3-pointer and
Isaiah Thompson would drive for a lay-up to cap a 12-0 run to start the game, but Jacksonville (14-16, 5-11 ASUN) would stay close the rest of the contest. The Eagles would take a 31-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, the Eagles led by as many as eight, but the Dolphins would eventually tie the game, 50-50. Kellman would hit a pair of free-throws to re-establish the lead, then after a Jacksonville offensive foul, Johnson drained a step-back 3-pointer to get the lead back up to five as the clocked ticked towards 2:30 to go. The teams would swap buckets, with Jacksonville holding a chance to tie as the clock ticked under 30 seconds.
"We took out Keeshawn and put
Dakota Rivers in for their last possession, and he did a great job defensively," said Coach Chambers. "We stayed out defensively and we made it tough for them to hit the last shot. Everybody did something amazing for us tonight."
The last amazing thing for the Eagles on the night would be
Zach Anderson pulling down the final rebound. He would get fouled and calmly hit both ends of the 1-and-1 to give FGCU the 59-54 lead. JU hit a shot just before the buzzer to trim the lead to two, but all the Eagles had to do was inbound the basketball, and the Eagles earned a big road win.
After a conference season dotted with one-possession losses, the Eagles were able to pull out a one-possession game for the first time in ASUN play this year. "I thought it was important to be in a tight game and close it out," Coach Chambers said. "For everybody's belief and confidence, I thought it was important. Every game in the tournament is going to be a one or two-point game. For us to win one like this was huge."
Tip-off in the opening round of the ASUN Championship against Queens is set for 7 p.m. Monday.
