PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- San Diego State knows what
Georgetown felt like.
The Aztecs, like the Hoyas two
nights earlier, could only watch Florida Gulf Coast celebrate an upset
win at the NCAA tournament. This was an historic one -- the 81-71
victory made the Eagles the first No. 15 seed to reach the NCAA
tournament's round of 16.
And just like in FGCU's win
over second-seeded Georgetown, it was a big second-half run that sent
the Eagles on their way to some postgame dancing.
In
its first-ever NCAA tournament game on Friday, the Atlantic Sun champion
busted brackets everywhere by taking control with a 21-2 run in the
second half.
It went much the same way against
seventh-seeded San Diego State.
This time the run was
17-0 and Sherwood Brown, who was saddled early in the second half with
foul trouble, had eight of the first 10 points of it. When it was over
the Eagles led 71-52 with 4:19 to play and the only decisions left were
how the players and fans were going to
celebrate.
"They're a good basketball team. They have
proved that all season long, and obviously they proved that again
today," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. "We put keys to the
game, and I told them the No. 1 key to the game is runs. That's been a
theme of ours all year. ... Obviously they went on the run on us when it
was 54-52. We contributed a little bit to it, but they did it. They ran
on us and I thought we got anxious, gambled a little bit, and that
added to them running downhill. But they are to be complimented for how
they played and for the momentum that they will carry into the Sweet
16."
The next opponent for the upstart state school
will be the system's flagship university, third-seeded Florida, on
Friday night in the South Regional semifinal in
Dallas.
"We tried to scrimmage them early in the
season in the preseason," FGCU coach Andy Enfield said. "Now we get our
shot."
San Diego State, which was trying to reach the
round of 16 for the second time in three years, made the third round
with a 70-55 victory over Oklahoma.
FGCU presented a
different problem, one the Aztecs couldn't handle for that 7 1-2 minute
run. The Eagles ran and dunked, taking advantage of misses and turnovers
to get the game going at a pace even took quick for San Diego
State.
"They just ran the floor like they did the
last game, and that's what we preached on, and they just made plays
toward the end of the game," said the Aztecs' Chase
Tapley.
Bernard Thompson had 23 points and Sherwood
Brown added 17 for FGCU, the 16-year-old school in just its second
season being eligible for postseason play.
Jamal
Franklin, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Aztecs (23-11),
spoke with Brown after the game.
"I just told him
just keep being the leader that he is, make sure the ball is in his
hands, make sure he does what he has to do to keep his team rolling,"
said Franklin, the only player in Division I to lead his team in
scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.
The Eagles
stick their tongues out after big baskets and they interact with the
crowd throughout the game.
"They play with a swagger,
and they have a right to do that," said Fisher, who knows about players
with that attitude, having led the Fab Five to consecutive national
championship games at Michigan. "You can have that look and feel, but
you have to compete and play to earn your spurs, and they've done
that."
In short, they showed a kind of joy that's
often missing from high stakes, high drama games in
March.
"We're all about having fun and also playing
really hard and that's something we like to do, we like to get the crowd
involved," said Brown, the A-Sun's player of the year. "The whole crowd
got behind us even if they are not from Fort Myers, or as I like to
say, `Dunk City.'"
The notoriously tough Philly fans
loved them back. One seated behind the FCGU bench held a sign -- "Fly,
Eagles, Fly!" -- the motto of the NFL team that plays across the street
from the Wells Fargo Center.
And after it was all
over, the whole team joined in a bird dance that the players on the
bench had been doing during the game.
"I know I can
say for all the players, this was the biggest game for us. None of us
have played on this stage," point guard Brett Comer said. "We are
blessed to be here."
Comer, who didn't have as many
lob passes for dunks as he did against the Hoyas, finished with 10
points and 14 assists, some of which resulted in dunks that had the
crowd cheering and wanting more.
"We want to get out
and run," Comer said. "We're just having so much
fun."
FGCU even unleashed another offensive weapon.
Christophe Varidel, a native of Switzerland, hit two big 3s early for
the Eagles and finished with 11 points after going scoreless against
Georgetown.
The Eagles shot 55.9 percent for the game
(33 of 59), including going 7 of 18 from 3-point
range.
The Aztecs finished at 44.3 percent (27 of 61)
and were 8 of 23 from beyond the arc.
"They ran.
They ran hard, they ran consistent, and they ran effectively," Fisher
said. "They're playing with a kind of momentum that they have earned."
