Tucker leads FGCU past UMass
Freshman Rayjon Tucker scored a career-high 15 points, including the game-winning 3-point play with 10.6 seconds left Sunday night, to lift Florida Gulf Coast past Massachusetts 77-76 at Alico Arena.
The win sends the Eagles (6-4) into a stretch in which they play eight of their next nine games at home, where they are 5-1 so far this season. Their next opponent is South Dakota State on Saturday.
The Eagles missed a pair of shots as the clock dipped under 20 seconds but, after the second miss, managed to force a jump ball with 17.5 seconds remaining. With a favorable possession arrow, the ball was inbounded to Tucker, who drove the lane and hit a floater from six feet and was fouled.
Donte Clark took it up the court for the Minutemen, but he couldn’t shake free, passing back to Trey Davis on the left wing. Under tight defense, Davis had to double-clutch his 3-point shot which came up short.
Marc Eddy Norelia led the Eagles with 20 points and Christian Terrell added 14.
“It was a really good game we had some spurts where we were really good and some stretches where we were pretty bad. We need to do a better job of stemming the tide and not have so many peaks and valleys,” said Eagles coach Joe Dooley. “Rayjon obviously made a big play at the end, and Marc-Eddy kept us in the game in the first half.”
Jabarie Hinds scored 15 and Clark and Seth Berger had 14 each for UMass (5-4).
The Minutemen went up 76-74 on Davis’ 3 with 1:32 left, but followed that with consecutive turnovers.
Soccer: Former FGCU standout and 2015 Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year Rodrigo Saravia is the first player in program history to be invited to attend a Major League Soccer Player Combine.
The native of Guatemala City is one of 59 Division-I players invited to the 2016 adidas MLS Player Combine. Top collegiate players from across the country will showcase their talents in front of representatives from all 20 MLS clubs in Fort Lauderdale Jan. 7-12.
Invitees are eligible for selection in the 2016 SuperDraft on Jan. 14 in Baltimore. A committee of MLS coaches and D-I coaches from every conference selected the invitees, all who have completed their college eligibility this season.
Saravia is not only the first FGCU product to be invited, he’s just the third A-Sun player chosen since the Eagles joined the league in 2007.
Saravia is currently taking part in the Seattle Sounders combine in Las Vegas.