FT. MYERS, Fla. - A stretch of 11 straight misses early in the second half sealed the fate of Jacksonville on Saturday as the Dolphins dropped a 79-50 Atlantic Sun contest at Florida Gulf Coast in Alico Arena.
Andris Misters (19) and Kori Babineax (15) led the way combining for 34 points for Jacksonville which will continue a three-game road swing at Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky next week.
"Give a lot of credit to FGCU, I thought we made it a game for 17 minutes," said Head Coach Tony Jasick. "Then they got going and we got loose defensively. Against these guys you can’t get loose on the defensive end."
With Misters and Babineaux combining for 25 of the Dolphins 28 points at the break, the first half stayed tightly contested featuring six ties and five lead changes over the first 16 minutes of action. The Dolphins held a 25-22 lead following a jumper in the lane by Babineaux at 6:29.
A lay-up by Antwon Clayton tied the game again with 4:07 to go before the break. The Eagles would then get hot from beyond the arc, hitting four three-pointers as part of a 14-1 run to end the period. Jacksonville shot 48 percent for the half despite hitting just one of the final seven field goal attempts.
"For us we were not able to finish possessions late in the first half and to their credit they capitalized," added Jasick.
The shooting drought continued into the second half as the Dolphins hit 2-of-16 before a Misters three-pointer with six minutes remaining. With Jacksonville unable to get into a rhythm offensively, Florida Gulf Coast pulled away for the win.
"They are really good when the ball is moving and they are going in a transition setting," Jasick said of the Eagles. "We didn’t do a good enough job as the game went on of getting quality offensive possessions so that we could get our defense set in the open floor."