Dana Caldwell

dana.caldwell@naplesnews.com; 239-253-7401

These are the Eagles almost everyone predicted to fly through the Atlantic Sun regular-season and conference tourney.

Following up on Monday night's super-impressive, 87-57 ASUN tournament-opening home win against Stetson, regular-season champion Florida Gulf Coast University's men shook off a too-close first half and fifth-seeded Kennesaw State, 74-62, in a semifinal in front of 4,333 in rocking Alico Arena on Thursday night.

"We had some good spurts," FGCU coach Joe Dooley said. "I thought at the start of the second half the guys did a really good job of getting some defensive stops. We got out in transition and made some plays."

FGCU (25-7) next faces third-seeded North Florida (15-18) at home at 3 p.m. Sunday in the ASUN tourney title game that will determine the mid-major conference's lone NCAA tournament representative. It will be FGCU's fifth ASUN final in the last six seasons, and the tournament's defending champion Eagles are looking for their second straight March Madness entry.

Eye on the Eagles: Marc-Eddy Norelia back to his old, dominating self

In the regular season, FGCU swept UNF, which was red-hot from behind the arc (16 of 24; 66.7 percent) in pulling a 91-85 upset at No. 2 Lipscomb on Thursday night.

As always, it seems, junior point guard Brandon Goodwin -- who came in leading the Eagles with an 18-point average -- was the engine that drove FGCU.

The ASUN's Newcomer of the Year was everywhere -- directing traffic, defending, rebounding, assisting, exhorting, flying out of bounds to save possessions, you name it -- and poured in a game-high 28 points. That set an FGCU ASUN tournament record. He also had three rebounds, two assists and a game-high three steals in 29 minutes. He had zero turnovers.

"Terrific," Dooley said. "He was making plays, and it makes it a lot easier when you do that."

It was a solid, sometimes-spectacular, all-around win. FGCU shot 54.4 percent against Kennesaw State's zone and outscored the Owls, 54-26, in the paint. The Eagles had nine steals.

"I feel like today we came out with a lot of energy," said FGCU senior forward Demetris Morant, who had 14 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots. "And on defense, I thought we were a little lax at first, but we picked it up as the game went on and that helped us."

Kennesaw State (14-18) never led and the game was tied for a total of 16 seconds.

This was all about pace, and the Eagles were mostly able to push it against the Owls, who prefer a very deliberate style.

"We didn't do a good job of keeping them out of transition, and the reason for that is we didn't score the ball as well as we should have," Kennesaw State coach Al Skinner said. "We didn't handle the ball as well as we should have. We knew what we had to do and we just didn't execute it well."

The Eagles knew what they had to do as well. And they did it.

"They play with great patience," Dooley said of the Owls. "The coach knows exactly how he wants to play. They're very grind-it-out, methodical, and I thought we did a good job of shortening the possessions. We did a pretty good job on them, and once the guys got out and got running, the guys did well."

After a somewhat sluggish second half of the first half, the Eagles exploded to start the second half, scoring the first six points for a 40-31 lead. The capper came on a Goodwin no-looker to Morant for a nasty slam.

Goodwin and sophomore swingman Rayjon Tucker hit back-to-back 3-pointers to shove the lead to 52-39.

When Goodwin swooped in from quite far out for a rim-rattling baseline tomahawk slam, the crowd noise -- led, as always, by the rowdy student fan club Dirty Birds -- was absolutely deafening as Skinner frantically called timeout yet again.

FGCU's lead was 56-41 at that point and the Eagles rolled from there.

FGCU broke out smartly and aggressively in jumping to a 9-5 lead that grew to 20-14. But Nick Masterson's three 3-pointers, long Owls rebounds and deliberate pace kept KSU neck-and-neck with FGCU.

A Goodwin 3-pointer gave the Eagles a 34-27 lead with just 1:09 left in the half, but the Owls closed with a 4-0 run to stay within 34-31 at intermission.

"I was happy that we came ready to play and stayed consistent throughout the game," Goodwin said. "The main focus at the half was to come out and keep playing hard and keep trusting each other and keep getting each other the ball and keep the ball from sticking. I think for the most part we did a good job with that."

Players of the Game

FGCU junior point guard Brandon Goodwin poured in 28 points and had three steals.

Eagles senior forward Marc-Eddy Norelia had 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

FGCU senior forward Demetris Morant had 14 points.

Fifth-year KSU senior guard Kendrick Ray, an All-ASUN first-teamer, had 27 points and a game-high five assists.



Key Stats

FGCU walloped KSU, 54-26, in the paint.

The Eagles shot 54.4 percent from the field and held the Owls to 43.4 percent.

The Eagles had 13 fast-break points to four for KSU.

Norelia's dunk late in the game tied the 2012-13 Dunk City team's season total of 148.



Turning Point

There were two.

FGCU opened the second half with a 6-0 run to build its three-point halftime lead to 40-31.

The Eagles put this away with a 12-2 burst that included 3-pointers by Goodwin and Rayjon Tucker and a Goodwin tomahawk slam that made it 58-41 with 10:42 left to play.



What's Next

Top-seeded FGCU (25-7) hosts third-seeded North Florida (15-18) for the ASUN tournament championship at 3 p.m. Sunday.

The Eagles swept UNF -- which pulled off a 91-85 upset win at second-seeded Lipscomb on Thursday night -- during the regular season.

FLORIDA GULF COAST 74, KENNESAW ST. 62

KENNESAW ST. (14-18)

Williams 1-4 4-4 6, Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Clarke 1-3 0-0 2, Ray 11-24 1-3 27, Masterson 6-7 2-2 16, Cameron 1-2 0-0 2, Nielsen 2-4 3-3 7, J.Scott 0-3 0-0 0, Hooker 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 10-12 62.

FLORIDA GULF COAST (25-7)

Norelia 5-8 0-0 10, Morant 6-6 2-2 14, Terrell 3-7 0-0 6, Goodwin 11-17 4-4 28, Johnson 3-10 1-2 7, Mickle 0-0 0-0 0, Simmons 2-3 0-0 4, Tucker 1-3 2-2 5, Carlyle 0-0 0-0 0, Reid 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 31-57 9-10 74.

Halftime_Florida Gulf Coast 34-31. 3-Point Goals_Kennesaw St. 6-14 (Ray 4-8, Masterson 2-2, J.Scott 0-1, Nielsen 0-1, Hooker 0-2), Florida Gulf Coast 3-15 (Goodwin 2-6, Tucker 1-2, Terrell 0-2, Reid 0-2, Johnson 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Kennesaw St. 20 (Williams 6), Florida Gulf Coast 31 (Norelia 10). Assists_Kennesaw St. 14 (Ray 5), Florida Gulf Coast 13 (Norelia, Johnson 3). Total Fouls_Kennesaw St. 14, Florida Gulf Coast 16.

Atlantic Sun Conference tournament

At higher seeds

Quarterfinals

Monday, Feb. 27

(1) FGCU 87, (8) Stetson 57

(5) Kennesaw State 80, (4) USC Upstate 78

(3) North Florida 77, (6) Jacksonville 74

(2) Lipscomb 97, (7) NJIT 66

Semifinals

Thursday, March 2

(1) FGCU 74, (5) Kennesaw State 62

(3) North Florida 91, (2) Lipscomb 85

Championship

Sunday, March 5

North Florida at FGCU, 3 p.m.