FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast men's basketball overcame a slow start to the second game of GEICO Coconut Hoops and used late-second half heroics from freshman guard
Jordan Ellerbee to secure a 78-63 win over Rice on Tuesday night.
Ellerbee led all scorers with a career-high 20 points in the Eagles' win. JR Konieczny added 19 points and six rebounds, and
Rahmir Barno scored in double-digits for the fifth consecutive game for the first time in his career for FGCU (5-2, 0-0 ASUN).
"I'm just proud of how we stuck together," head coach
Pat Chambers said. "I thought we got pretty good shots in the first half. They just didn't go. And that happens.
"Every day in practice, I talk about defending and rebounding. Defending and rebounding. Because there's going to be nights like this where the ball's not going to go in the basket. Then what are you going to do? I felt like we stuck together. We showed some grit, showed some resiliency. And I give a freshman (Ellerbee) a lot of credit for taking a gutsy shot. Had a timeout. I felt like they were on their heels a little bit. I chose not to call the timeout. Our guys trusted the concepts. He got to a spot, made a big shot."
In strong contrast to both FGCU & Rice's Monday games, the first half was a defensive battle that featured a trio of technical fouls. Each defense maintained complete control of the game, and the offenses' managed a combined 14-for-50 from the field in the half.
Rice led 24-17 at the break and extended its lead to 13 with 16:43 to play in the second half. From there, though, the Eagles methodically chipped away. Ellerbee buried four 3-pointers – another career best mark – and a layup for 14 points to whittle the deficit to three. Konieczny,
Jack Reddick and
Darren Williams also hit shots for FGCU as they drew within a possession.
After Ellerbee's fourth triple, he picked up his fourth foul of the game with 10:46 to play and headed to the bench. For the next ten minutes, the game went back-and-forth between the free throw lines, the score separated by just one possession for all but 12 seconds. The Eagles never led, though, and found themselves trailing 59-57 in the final 60 seconds.
On what would be FGCU's final possession of regulation, Ellerbee caught a pass from
Rory Stewart at the right wing. He drove left, then drove right before backing up behind the arc and paused.
The Philadelphia native crossed over to his left hand and pulled up with a deep midrange jumper as the clock ticked under 13 seconds.
He buried the shot to tie the game at 59-all.
After a Rice timeout, Ellerbee then forced an errant shot as time expired.
"I put my full trust in (my teammates), they put their full trust in me," Ellerbee said. "And as long as we keep that trust, we're going to continue to win."
In overtime, any momentum remaining with the Owls swung to FGCU. Barno, Duax and Stewart scored on the first three possessions of overtime before another Ellerbee make. JR Konieczny delivered the dagger with a corner 3-pointer with 1:43 to play.
The Eagles knocked down all ten of their free throws in the extra period to score more in overtime (19) than in the first half and seal the 78-63 win.
Next, FGCU concludes GEICO Coconut Hoops and its run of three games in three days at Alico Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Kennesaw State.
Tickets for GEICO Coconut Hoops are on sale at
https://fgcuathletics.evenue.net/events/MCHOOPS or by calling (866) 342-8849.
For more information on FGCU men's basketball, follow @FGCU_MBB on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit
fgcuathletics.com.
