FORT MYERS, Fla. – Florida Gulf Coast men's basketball (14-15, 8-8 ASUN) used an improbable comeback to send Saturday's senior contest into overtime, where it shocked Central Arkansas (18-11, 13-3) 75-71 at Alico Arena on Saturday.
FGCU's senior day win was its sixth consecutive home win and fourth consecutive win overall. The Eagles snapped the Bears' 11-game win streak and handed UCA just its third ASUN loss.
The game went to overtime thanks to a clutch connection between JR Konieczny and
Isaiah Malone. Konieczny lobbed an out-of-bounds pass from halfcourt directly under the rim with 1.5 seconds remaining to Malone, who dropped the ball through the basket with just enough time to spare to tie the game at 63-63 and force overtime.
In the extra period, the Bears held a 71-68 lead with 52 seconds remaining before freshman
Jordan Ellerbee delivered one of the best moments of his career thus far. He took three dribbles to his right, pulled up from behind the arc and buried a 3-pointer to tie the game.
On the next possession, Konieczny timed his double team of a Central Arkansas player perfectly to knock the ball into the hands of
Rahmir Barno. Barno lasered a bounce pass to Ellerbee, who delivered a game-winning tomahawk dunk.
"Fortunately we stole it, kicked it ahead, and (Ellerbee) just absolutely crushed it," head coach
Pat Chambers said. "This place, the roof came off. It was awesome."
The Bears missed two three pointers after Ellerbee's dunk. Malone got the rebound after the second miss and was fouled with 0.9 seconds remaining. He hit both free throws to seal the 75-71 win.
Â
With five minutes remaining in regulation, the Eagles' win streak was in a precarious position. Tyler Robinson hit a 3-pointer to put the Bears up 63-53, prompting a FGCU timeout. Out of the timeout, Malone finished an alley-oop from Konieczny to ignite life into the offense.Â
Barno hit a layup to cut the deficit to six with 3:28 to play, then got a steal to set up Konieczny for a layup of his own to trim the Central Arkansas lead to four. Malone got an offensive rebound and slammed home another dunk with just over a minute remaining to bring it to a one-possession deficit.
FGCU chose not to foul down two after Malone's dunk, and instead forced a Bears' shot clock violation with 34 seconds remaining. Neither team could get a shot to fall in the next 30 seconds. Ellerbee rebounded the missed front end of a 1-and-1 UCA free throw attempt and was fouled at midcourt with 1.5 seconds left, prompting the Konieczny inbound pass to Malone to send the game to overtime.
"We finally made the plays," Chambers said. "We got stops, right? We made a great play backcourt (side out of bounds) with the throw by JR. I trusted Jordan, trusted his work. It was a huge (3-pointer). We finally made some free throws, but we were due. We have to be playing our best basketball (now)."
Ellerbee led the Eagles with 23 points on 5-for-11 shooting from 3-point range. Barno, Malone and
Michael Duax joined him in double-digits with 13, 10 and 10, respectively. Malone and Duax each grabbed seven rebounds.
"Coach (Chambers) always gives us a motto," Ellerbee said. "'It's always hard to beat a team who doesn't stop,' and that's what we've taken. We don't stop, no matter the time, no matter the score. We just keep going, we trust in ourselves and we do this in practice every single day. We just trust in our concepts, trust in our team and what we believe in, and that (led to) the outcome today."
Camren Hunter led Central Arkansas with 24 points on 8-for-23 shooting from the field.
Next, FGCU heads into the last week of the regular season on the road, beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday at North Florida (6-23, 4-12).
For more information on FGCU men's basketball, follow @FGCU_MBB on
Instagram,
X (Twitter) and
Facebook, and visit fgcuathletics.com.
Postgame Notes
– Ellerbee scored in double-digits for the 11th consecutive game and 22nd time this season
– Ellerbee had his fifth 20-point game of the year
– Ellerbee's five made 3-pointers tied his career high, set in his 42-point game against Kennesaw State on November 26
– Ellerbee's 23-point performance was the second best of his career behind his 42-point game
– Ellerbee scored the 23 points without making a free throw
– Ellerbee's 21 field goal attempts and 11 3-point attempts were both career highs
– Ellerbee's 21 field goal attempts marks the second time this year that an Eagle has taken more than 20 shots from the field (joining Konieczny vs. Georgia Southern on November 11)
– The Eagles dominated in the paint, outscoring UCA 42-24 in paint points
– FGCU snapped Central Arkansas' 11-game win streak. The Bears hadn't lost a game since January 10
– The Eagles extended their lead in the all-time series with UCA to 5-2
– FGCU honored
Michael Duax, JR Konieczny,
Rory Stewart and
Brandon Dwyer pregame for senior day
Â
