In the first round of the A-Sun Conference Tournament, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles defeated the Jacksonville Dolphins handily by a score of 81-63.
Florida Gulf Coast had lost to yesterday’s opponents on the last day of the regular season. With a little over 12 minutes left to go in the half, Jacksonville’s J.R. Holder would make his teams next four points to take a slim 16-15 advantage. However, that would be the last lead for the Dolphins as they were able to tie the game a couple of times later in the half, but were unable to pull ahead of the Eagles. Jamail Jones made a three for the Eagles that pushed his schools lead to eight with two seconds left to go; but Kori Babineaux would hit a three at the buzzer going the other way to give Jacksonville a glimmer of hope heading into halftime.
After the halftime interval, FCGU came out on fire. Jamail Jones, Brett Comer, and Demetris Morant made the team’s first nine points of the second half, extending their lead to eleven. The home school was not done though as they were able to have an answer for everything Jacksonville every single time. Morant made another dunk, his third of the half, with 1:06 left in the opening round of the tournament that put the game away.
The Eagles got excellent production from most everyone contributed on offense. Three starters scored in double figures, but it was Marc-Eddy Norelia who quietly had the best performance for his team coming off of the bench. Norelia, 6’ 8” sophomore, finished the game with a team high 19 points going 6-11 from the field while also sinking 7 of his 9 free throw attempts. For Jacksonville, it was Kori Babineaux who led everyone with 20 points, but no other Dolphin really contributed on offense, and that was their major downfall yesterday.