Monday, February 13, 2017
Eagles Basketball-Crunch Time
It is
indeed crunch time for the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Men's Basketball
team. The Eagles began the season as a favourite to repeat as the
defending conference tourney champion. With just a handful of games
remaining before the playoffs begin, the Eagles will face some stiff
opposition from teams that are a little desperate.
There have been a few
bumps along the road this year for the Eagles. Likely not much
different from most other American College teams. There are the elite
teams, of course, who lose only one or two games during the regular
season to earn a top spot in the seedings for “March Madness”,
and a trip to the NCAA Championships. The teams from the ASUN
Conference have to claw their way in to the finals.
After splitting a pair
of home games last week, the Eagles have just three games remaining,
two on the road. They finish the regular season on the 23rd,
with a home game against Stetson. The Atlantic Sun Championships
begin with quarter final games on the 27th of February.
The Eagles would love to finish at the top of their division. There
is a distinct home advantage in basketball, especially with the
Eagles. The sound is deafening at the Alico Arena, modestly referred
to as “The Nest” for the Eagles.
When the teams took the
court for their game last week, I became aware of the fact that one
of the team's leaders was not dressed. Christian Terrell, a six foot
five Junior guard hobbled along with his teammates wearing a “boot”,
one of those protective foot gear. He had twisted his ankle the
previous day in practice. I knew that did not bode well for the
Eagles.
Christian Terrell
FGCU was entertaining
the Lipscomb Bisons. The Eagles had an 8-1 record, while the Bisons
stood at 7-2. At the halfway point in the game, these evenly-matched
teams were deadlocked in a 28-28 draw. Both teams did not shoot well,
even with open looks: shooting percentage for each team was 34.4%.
Lipscomb had the reputation of being a good three point shooting
team, and they had made four of thirteen chances at halftime. The
Eagles had made one shot in seven attempts outside the arc.
The Bisons got a huge
boost from Josh Williams midway through the second half. He sunk two
3 point shots to move the Bisons up 49-40. Brandon Goodwin and
Marc-Eddy Norelia each scored to even the game in the dying seconds,
but the Bisons stubbornly hung on to win 65-60.
Norelia netted his
1000th point of his career early in the first half, and
has been a consistent scorer throughout his career at FGCU.
The Eagles are most
fortunate to have Brandon Goodwin starting this year. He has been
named ASUN “Newcomer of the Week” five times this year, a league
record. He is a team leader, and leads the team in scoring. At six
feet, two inches, he battles under the boards for rebounds most
effectively, averaging more than four per game.
The basketball world is
indeed enormous here in the US of A. Even though the Eagles lead
their own conference, they are ranked 81st in the nation,
in the top 175 teams. FGCU is one of 31 teams to win at least 20
games.
The “Nest” will be
rocking a week from now with just a few games to play. One of those
games might just be a return match with the Bisons. That would be
some match!!
James Hurst
February 13, 2017
# posted by James Hurst @ 5:20 PM 
