Eagles roll over La Salle 86-77
FGCU scored the first eight points of the game and never looked back while receiving a season-high 20 points from Julian DeBose and four other double-figure scorers Thursday night in an 86-77 victory over La Salle at Alico Arena.
Redshirt sophomore Antravious Simmons recorded his first career double-double with career bests of 17 points and 10 rebounds. Redshirt junior Marc-Eddy Norelia just missed his seventh double-double of the year with 15 points and nine rebounds. DeBose matched his scoring career high set his sophomore year at Rice, while sophomore Christian Terrell added 11 points and Zach Johnson reached double figures for the fourth time this season with 10 points.
Simmons got the start and scored six of Eagles’ first eight points as La Salle began the game by turning the ball over on its first four possessions. That set the tone for the duration of the contest as the Eagles (7-7) built a lead as large as 19, 37-18, in the first half and never led by fewer than six points the rest of the way en route to snapping a three-game losing streak and earning their second victory over an Atlantic 10 Conference member this season.
“(Simmons) got us off to a great start and that helped everyone else get off to a good start,” said Eagles coach Joe Dooley. “We had some spurts where we played really well and some spots where we were very careless. We didn’t play one of our best defensive games, but we rebounded the ball well and Julian stepped up to make some timely shots, and we shot very well from the free-throw line as well which helped significantly.”
DeBose is the fifth different player the Eagles have had that’s led them in scoring this year. They took advantage of La Salle’s 16 turnovers as the Eagles converted them into 22 points, and the Eagles also held a 39-29 edge on the glass.
The Eagles enter January at the same exact mark they did in 2013-14 when they went on to win the A-Sun regular-season title and automatic berth to the NIT. FGCU is now 49-10 at Alico Arena since 2012-13. The Eagles are 6-3 at home this year, were 13-4 last year, went 15-2 in 2013-14 and 15-1 in 2012-13.