Box Score 
FORT MYERS, Fla. – John Jordan led four players in double figures with his third straight 20-point game, as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team downed Florida Gulf Coast, 75-69, in the opening round of the College Insider Tournament on Wednesday. Bryce Douvier added a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards in the victory.
With the win, the Islanders improved to 20-13 on the season, their first 20-win campaign since the 2006-07 squad advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Jelani Currie added 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting, while Rashawn Thomas toughed his way to 10 points despite being plagued by fouls throughout the game. Jordan added seven assists and three steals in his effort.
Julian DeBose led four players in double figures for FGCU (22-11), scoring 18 points. Bernard Thompson (15), Marc-Eddy Norelia (12) and Brett Comer (11) also finished in double digits, while Comer dished out seven assists and posted four steals as well.
The Islanders advance to the second round of the College Insider Tournament where they will face Kent State on Monday, March 23, at the American Bank Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m. on Stripes Court.
Early on, the two teams went back-and-forth with Douvier coming out red-hot. He scored the Islanders' first seven points, as the Islanders and Eagles battled to a 10-9 FGCU lead. At that juncture, though, the Islanders defense locked down and the offense heated up, as A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 16-2 run to open up a 13-point lead at 25-12. Five different Islanders scored in the rally, but Currie was the main catalyst, with seven points in the run, including a monster putback jam and a three from the left wing.
FGCU was unfazed, though, slowly chipping away at the lead. Two triples in a span of a minute and a half from Comer were part of an 8-2 run that got the lead down to seven, 27-20, but the Islanders came back with a Jordan jumper and a three-ball from Brandon Pye to push the lead back to 12. The Eagles would close the half strong, though, finishing out the stanza on a 14-5 run. Thompson drilled a three and a Logan Hovey layup capped off the rally, making it 37-34 Islanders heading to the locker room.
The teams traded points out of the break, with the Islanders able to stretch the lead to four, 48-44, after a two-handed slam by Demetris Morant. Again, though, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's defense came through, holding the Eagles to just one point over the next 5:32, going on a 8-1 run to stretch the lead to 11, 56-45, at the 9:24 mark.
From there, FGCU was able to rally back to down seven, but for every Eagles run, the Islanders had a response. Joe Kilgore delivered a clutch tip-in dunk at the 6:56 mark, and after a back-and-forth, the Eagles were able to cut it to six on a DeBose three that made it 60-54.
But that was as close as the Eagles would get, as the lead ranged from six to 10 all the way into the locker room. Jordan's jumper at the 1:23 mark pushed the lead to nine, and after an FGCU basket, his two free throws gave him 20 points for the third straight contest. The Islanders advanced the lead up to 10 with 53 seconds left before the Eagles were able to convert a pair of baskets to result in the final score.
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