FGCU units rip Stetson
FGCU began the Atlantic Sun Conference portion of the basketball schedule Saturday in dominant fashion, sweeping a doubleheader from Stetson at Alico Arena.
The women’s team battered the Hatters 61-48 while the men hammered the Hatters 82-53. The Eagles continue their home floor opening to the conference slate this week. The men host A-Sun newcomer NJIT on Thursday while the both teams host USC Upstate on Saturday in another doubleheader.
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The Eagles women (13-4, 1-0 conference, 6-2 at Alico) used a 16-point run to start the second half to put away the Hatters Saturday and post their sixth straight win. The second-half opening run broke a 24-24 deadlock at the break.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from the corner by Kaneisha Atwater and Whitney Knight highlighted the run, which lasted nearly seven minutes before the Hatters scored.
“I thought we came out with good aggressiveness to start the third quarter and that was really the difference,” said Eagles coach Karl Smesko. “We had an aggressive, attacking mentality and we got some good shots early in the quarter. After the run, we were able to keep them from getting back in it and I thought our defense was consistent throughout to help us on that end.”
Knight led all players with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Atwater and Taylor Gradinjan each added 11 points.
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FGCU’s men (10-7, 1-0 conference, 9-3 at Alico) shot a blistering 71.4 percent (20-of-28) in the opening half, their best percentage in program history against a Division I opponent. FGCU led by as much as 32 in the second half and the 29-point margin of victory is tied for the third-largest in program history against an A-Sun opponent.
Redshirt freshman Zach Johnson led all scorers with 17 points, redshirt junior Marc-Eddy Norelia tallied 16 and redshirt senior Filip Cvjeticanin added 12. All three came off the bench as the Eagles once again displayed their depth with 55 total points from the bench.
“We got off to a great start behind hustle plays from Julian (DeBose) and energy plays from Meech (Demetris Morant) when he came off the bench to really set the tone,” said Eagles coach Joe Dooley. “Meech really protected the rim when he came into the game. Stetson had some good looks which they missed and that helped us obviously. But our guys played with confidence and shared the ball for the most part, and there really isn’t a lot to complain about.”
The win over Stetson is the seventh in a row for the Eagles, who have now won five straight A-Sun openers.