FGCU MBB wins 5th in a row, moves into 1st-place tie atop A-Sun standings

DUNK CITY, Fla. (FGCU Athletics)– Fueled by a game-high 24 points from senior Brett Comer, the FGCU men’s basketball team (16-7, 6-1 Atlantic Sun Conference) won its fifth-straight game and moved into a first-place tie atop the A-Sun standings as the Eagles earned a 74-64 victory over Northern Kentucky (9-13, 3-4 A-Sun) Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at Alico Arena.

FGCU knew coming into the game that a win and a loss by North Florida would knot the two teams at the top of the A-Sun at the midway point of the conference season, and that’s exactly what happened. USC Upstate (16-7, 4-3 A-Sun) defeated UNF (14-10, 6-1 A-Sun) on the Ospreys’ home court, 79-74, behind 39 points from senior Ty Greene to help propel FGCU into the first-place tie.

Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) led a quartet of FGCU double-figure scorers as he topped the 20-point plateau for the third time already this year in A-Sun play. Senior Bernard Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) netted 15 points to surpass 1,700 career points (1,712), Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./St. John College HS/Rice) added 10 points and five rebounds and freshman Christian Terrell (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) contributed 10 points as the southpaw went 4-4 from the free-throw line while playing 22 valuable minutes.

Trailing 7-6 early in the contest, DeBose hit a 3-pointer to spearhead an 11-0 run in just two minutes which he then bookended with another 3 to open up FGCU’s first double-figure lead, 17-7, at the 14:32 mark. From there the lead grew to as much as 14 in the first half before Thompson beat the halftime buzzer as he banked in a 3 from about 30 feet to give the Eagles a 44-31 lead at the break.

The advantage grew to as much as 15, 49-34, following a Comer 3-pointer in the early stages of the second half, but after that make FGCU didn’t connect on a 3-pointer the rest of the evening as NKU then rattled off eight-straight points to trim the Eagles’ lead to just seven, 49-42, only four minutes into the half.

After the lead swelled back to as much as 13, the Norse – who won at USC Upstate earlier this year – clawed back to only trail by five, 62-57, with four minutes left. However, as he’s done multiple times this year and throughout his career, Comer took over and scored four straight to push the lead back to nine, and of FGCU’s final 12 points, Comer was responsible for seven of them.

“We got off to a good start and had a lot of energy, and obviously the ball going in the hoop helps generate that energy,” said FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. “But after the good start our defense started to suffer and that bothers me because that’s how you get beat. But with that being said, we made plays when we had to, Nate (Hicks) did a great job protecting the rim and rebounding the ball and we got out in transition where we were much more effective.”

FGCU shot 48.4 percent (15-31) from the field in the first half, including 9-16 (56.3 percent) from the 3-point line. However, in the second half the Eagles connected at just a 25-percent clip from the floor (6-24) and made only one 3-point attempt in eight tries. To overcome that, the Eagles once again relied on crashing the boards as for the seventh-straight game FGCU recorded at least 14 offensive rebounds (exactly 14) and recorded 12 or more second-chance points (14).

Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS/Georgia Tech) recorded a season-high 11 rebounds to compliment a +10 FGCU rebounding edge (39-29). Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette) recorded nine points in 22 foul-plagued minutes.

Tayler Persons led NKU with 20 points, while Jalen Billups added 14 points and nine rebounds. FGCU limited Billups to 7-14 from the floor, and while the 50-percent rate seems high it’s actually tied for the lowest of Billups’ season as the redshirt junior entered the contest second in the nation at 69.5 percent from the floor and 79.2 percent in A-Sun action.

FGCU will have a week off before returning to action when it commences a three-game roadtrip at Stetson (7-15, 2-5 A-Sun) next Saturday, Feb. 7, at 3:30 p.m. The contest will be the second game of a doubleheader as the 20-2 (7-0 A-Sun) FGCU women’s basketball team faces its rival at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES: At halftime, former FGCU baseball standout and Chicago White Sox staff ace Chris Sale became the first student-athlete to have a jersey retired as his No. 41 was honored … Saturday was Military Appreciation Night as FGCU Athletics and Bank of America partnered together to recognize those who protect and serve our nation … earlier in the day, the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team played a game against local celebrities and FGCU staff members and former student-athletes on campus at Swanson Stadium … the team was honored prior to tipoff … Bank of America presented a $1,000 scholarship check to a veteran during the contest.