FGCU storms back to beat FIU
MIAMI – Trailing by 13 points midway through the second half, FGCU turned up the pressure, forced overtime and then dominated the extra session to claim an important 84-76 win over cross-state foe FIU Sunday afternoon.
FGCU now takes a week off for final exams before returning to the Alico Arena court at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday against Massachusetts (5-2).
Christian Terrell led FGCU (5-4) in scoring for the fourth straight game as the sophomore tallied a game-high 20 points, 17 of which came in the second half and overtime. Marc-Eddy Norelia secured his fourth double-double of the campaign with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Zach Johnson added 12 points, Demetris Morant netted 11, Julian DeBose had 10 and Rayjon Tucker just missed being the sixth double-figure scorer for the Eagles with nine.
Facing a 60-47 deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, FGCU got a layup from DeBose and then went into a trapping full-court press. The pressure completely derailed the Panthers (4-5) as the Eagles forced four turnovers in less than a minute and scored off each one.
It didn’t come off an FIU turnover, but Terrell’s layup capped a furious 14-0 FGCU run in less than three minutes to take a 61-60 lead at the 7:40 mark. It all appeared to be wasted as FIU held a four-point lead, 71-67, with less than 90 seconds remaining and then 71-69 with fewer than 15 seconds left.
Following a sequence in which DeBose had the potential game-tying shot blocked and Terrell tracked down the rebound and threw the ball of a defender to preserve the possession, Eagles coach Joe Dooley used his final timeout with 12.8 seconds left.
The third-year coach drew up a clinical in-bounds play for an alley-oop pass from Johnson to Morant to force the overtime.
In overtime, FGCU scored the first 10 points and held FIU without a point until the final 10 seconds on a put-back dunk and 3-pointer.
“We were able to pick up the tempo and the young guys did a really good job,” said Dooley. “Marc-Eddy and Christian, especially, got us back in the game in the second half by making some good, timely shots. We were able to turn FIU over a lot and we had 18 assists against just nine turnovers and that’s much more of what we need.”