Seniors clutch as free-throw shooting ices FGCU road win at Kennesaw

KENNESAW, Ga. (FGCU Athletics)- For the second time in three days on the road, the FGCU men’s basketball team (14-7, 4-1 Atlantic Sun Conference) had its seniors step up late, and the Eagles went a perfect 8-8 down the stretch from the free-throw line to ice a not pretty, but gutty, 54-48 win at Kennesaw State (6-15, 1-4 A-Sun) Saturday afternoon.

Holding just a one-point lead, 46-45, with 1:36 remaining, redshirt senior Nate Hicks (Panama City Beach, Fla./J.R. Arnold HS/Georgia Tech) stepped up and hit the first two of eight-straight free throws in the closing 96 seconds for FGCU. Hicks, a 6-foot-10 center, added two more 40 seconds later before redshirt junior Julian DeBose (Washington, D.C./St. John College HS/Rice) knocked down two of his own with 33 seconds left and senior Brett Comer (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park HS) connected on the final pair at the 15-second mark to provide the final margin.

Playing in front of several hometown friends and family, redshirt senior Jamail Jones (Atlanta, Ga./Montverde Academy/Marquette) led the way for FGCU on a poor-shooting afternoon with a double-double performance of 12 points and 10 rebounds. DeBose added 12 – eight of which came in the second half – and senior Bernard Thompson (Conyers, Ga./Rockdale County HS) contributed 11 – seven of which came in the second half – to finish as the Eagles’ double-figure scoring trio.

Trailing 37-36, with a little more than eight minutes remaining, 16 of FGCU’s final 18 points were scored by seniors, starting with a Thompson 3-pointer to put the Green and Blue momentarily in front, 39-37. The teams went back-and-forth the next few possessions before a Comer fastbreak layup at the 4:25 mark gave FGCU the lead for good.

FGCU shot just 32.1 percent (18-56) from the floor, its second-lowest shooting percentage this year (27.3 percent vs. Green Bay) and lowest in a win (37 percent vs. San Francisco). However, FGCU once again got after it on the backboard as the Eagles grabbed a season-high 18 offensive rebounds to keep several possessions alive and ultimately turned those into 12 second-chance points – the fifth time in five A-Sun games this year it has produced double-figure points.

“We had some good looks that we didn’t make, and we had some shots at the rim that we didn’t make,” said FGCU head coach Joe Dooley. “So we had to depend on our defense, and that’s something we’ve been more consistent with this year than our offense. Julian made some big shots down the stretch, Bernard made a couple and we locked in defensively at the end.”

FGCU limited Kennesaw State to 33.3-percent shooting (18-54) – marking the second-consecutive game in which the Eagles have shot worse than their opponent but still emerged victorious. Yonel Brown scored a game-high 18 points, including a 4-7 performance from 3-point range – the only four 3s FGCU’s fifth-best national perimeter defense allowed all game (4-19, 21.1 percent).

The Eagles passed out a season-low four assists and were also able to overcome their worst 3-point shooting performance of the year (2-18, 11.1 percent). Comer finished with six points, five rebounds and two assists, with the six points surpassing 2014 Chase Fieler for third on FGCU’s career scoring list with now 1,307 points.

Four of Jones’ 10 rebounds came on the offensive end as two other FGCU players – Hicks (2) and Thompson (3) had multiple offensive rebounds. Thompson just missed what would have been his first double-double of the year with a season-best nine rebounds, while Hicks added seven and scored six of his seven points in the final 3:44.

With the win, FGCU guarantees itself a share of second place in the A-Sun standings at 4-1. North Florida and Lipscomb are both 4-0 in league action, but those two teams face off against each other later on Saturday in Nashville. The victory also caps FGCU’s first A-Sun weekend roadtrip sweep since Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2013, at UNF and Jacksonville. With now 14 wins, FGCU is tied with Miami for the most wins of any Division-I team in the state of Florida.

FGCU hosts Lipscomb on Thursday at Alico Arena in what would be a battle for first place in the A-Sun if the Bisons defeat the Ospreys. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from The Nest on ESPN3. Following that game, FGCU remains at home and welcomes Northern Kentucky (9-11, 3-2 A-Sun) on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: The 32.1-percent shooting was the lowest in a win for FGCU since going 24.4 percent in a 47-39 victory over Campbell late in the 2010-11 season … FGCU entered holding opponents to 26.5 percent from 3-point range … in its five A-Sun games, FGCU has now grabbed 76 offensive rebounds … DeBose added three steals as the Eagles produced eight for the game.