Sports
FGCU Men’s Basketball Drills Record 17 Threes in 105-61 Victory in Chambers’ Alico Arena Debut
Published
7 months agoon
By
FNN SPORTS
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men’s basketball team enjoyed another successful home opener Sunday night, swamping Ave Maria, 105-61, at Alico Arena in coach Pat Chambers’ Southwest Florida debut. The Eagles began the 2022-23 home slate with a high-powered offense that flirted with the program’s single-game scoring record.

Zach Anderson #10 scored 22 points for the FGCU Eagles (2-1), at Alico Arena, Fort Meyers, Florida, Sunday, November 13, 2022. (Roman Garay / Florida National News)
Junior forward Zach Anderson (Apopka, Fla./Apopka) scored a game-high 22 points and senior guard Isaiah Thompson (Zionsville, Ind./Purdue) dropped in 21 to lead FGCU (2-1), which is now 19-2 overall in home openers and includes a streak of 11 straight wins from 2008-2018. The Eagles have now won three straight home openers after winning their first-ever home opener on a Sunday.

FGCU men’s basketball head coach Pat Chambers debut, at Alico Arena, Fort Meyers, Florida, Sunday, November 13, 2022. (Roman Garay / Florida National News)
“It has been a long week, and we were all about just trying to get better,” said FGCU head men’s basketball coach Pat Chambers. “We were trying to work on the foundation of defending and rebounding, creating that identity. We took major steps last week in California, and I was proud of the way we competed and gave ourselves a chance on the road. Then to come back here in front of our home crowd, I am just excited by what these kids tried to do on the defensive side of the ball.”
FGCU poured in a school-record 17 3-pointers in 40 attempts en route to reaching the 100-point plateau for the first time since defeating Webber International 112-39 on Dec. 18, 2020. Senior guard Dahmir Bishop (Philadelphia, Pa./Xavier/St. Joseph’s) scored 12 points for FGCU, and junior guard Chase Johnston (Boca Raton, Fla./Stetson) stretched his streak of double-figure scoring games to three with 11 points. Ave Maria got 13 points from Jonathan Effertz and 12 from Miles Monchecourt.
Chambers is 10-2 in home openers in his 12th season as a head coach. Sunday’s win at “The Nest” extends his current streak of victories in home openers to four.
FGCU’s single-game scoring record was 123 points, set Dec. 19, 2003, against Illinois Institute of Technology. Not far behind was the 120 points the Eagles hung on Ave Maria on Nov. 29, 2016. And at several parts Sunday night, both marks seemed destined to fall. The Eagles scored 62 points in the first half alone, as Thompson tallied 17 points and Anderson dropped 16 in the first 20 minutes.
With a 35-point halftime lead in his jacket pocket, Chambers was able to cycle in several reserves during the second half – as 15 Eagles saw playing time while still eclipsing the 100-point mark.
“I am grateful for Ave Maria for taking the game and playing hard, and those kids played hard and competed even though they played last night, too,” Chambers said. “I felt like we stuck to being who we are, defending and rebounding and sharing the basketball and creating good habits. It easily could have turned into a bit of a circus, and it didn’t. We both were working on things to get better – I know I was, and I know they were, because they have a really good team for their league.”
FGCU improved to 7-0 against Ave Maria, renewing what was an annual matchup that went dormant in 2016. FGCU averaged 84 points per game against the Gyrenes coming into Sunday and allowed just 50.3 points per outing.
The Eagles return to action on the road Wednesday, playing No. 11 Tennessee at 7 p.m. ET at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Sunday’s home opener was FGCU’s only game at home in the month of November. FGCU returns to Southwest Florida for the Gulf Coast Classic at Hertz Arena on Nov. 21-23, playing Northern Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 21. FGCU next plays at Alico Arena on Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. against FIU.
Sports
Magic Gaming to Host First NBA 2K League Game at leAD Lake Nona on May 28
Published
1 week agoon
May 23, 2023By
FNN NEWS
Orlando, Fla. — Magic Gaming will host Hornets Venom GT on Sunday, May 28 at 2 p.m. at the leAD Lake Nona Sports & Health Tech Accelerator, (7004 Tavistock Lakes Blvd., Orlando), Magic Gaming’s new home. The game is free and open to the public.
Magic Gaming is one of eight teams selected by the NBA 2K League to host an in-person, in-market game during the 2023 season. After doors open, there will be a pregame show and team/player introductions. Following the game there will be a postgame show and Q&A session with the Magic Gaming team.
The match between Magic Gaming and Hornets Venom GT will take place during week two of group play in THE TIPOFF tournament. It will also be streamed on the OrlandoMagicGaming Twitch channel.
THE TIPOFF is the first tournament featuring 5v5 gameplay of the season. For the first time, the NBA 2K League season was separated into 3v3 and 5v5 halves. The 3v3 portion of the season began with the NBA2KL 3v3 SLAM OPEN on March 8 and finished with the NBA2KL 3v3 Finals on Saturday, May 13. The 5v5 competition tips off on Wednesday, May 23 with THE TIPOFF and will culminate with the NBA2KL 5v5 Finals on Saturday, August 5.
Magic Gaming finished the 3v3 season with a 10-17 overall record after a loss in the STEAL OPEN semifinals against Blazer5 Gaming on May 6. In the 2022 5v5 NBA 2K League season, Magic Gaming clinched their first playoff berth in franchise history.
Sports
Orlando Magic, AdventHealth Recognized with Downtown Orlando Partnership Golden Brick Award for AdventHealth Training Center
Published
4 weeks agoon
May 4, 2023By
FNN SPORTS
Orlando, Fla. (May 4, 2023) — The Orlando Magic and its partner, AdventHealth, were recognized with the Downtown Orlando Partnership (DOP) Golden Brick Award for the Magic’s AdventHealth Training Center, taking home its Award of Excellence. The DOP awarded 15 Golden Bricks at its annual luncheon on May 2 with projects nominated for community and development which positively impacted downtown Orlando in 2023.
In August of 2022, the DeVos family, Magic and AdventHealth unveiled the state-of-the-art AdventHealth Training Center as part of the Magic and AdventHealth’s continuing commitment to health and wellness. The new downtown facility serves as the training site for the Magic and a destination sports medicine hub to Central Florida. Together, the two organizations continue to build an innovative health and wellness model that brings whole-person medicine, science and research together to optimize sports performance, bringing those learnings to the broader community.
The center, one block from Amway Center, boasts 130,000-square-feet located on a nearly four-acre site at South Division Avenue and West Central Boulevard. The $70 million facility marks the latest investment in the Parramore community and in the continued growth and revitalization of this historic neighborhood.
The Orlando Magic and AdventHealth also furthered its commitment to Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) with the awarding of $17 million of design and construction contracts for the project to 33 local MWBEs. That amount represented approximately 32 percent of awarded opportunities, which is over the city’s recommended 24 percent MWBE participation.
The facility was designed by HOK, with Balfour Beatty serving as the construction manager.
The Golden Brick Awards is Downtown Orlando Partnership’s exclusive annual awards celebrating the people, projects, and initiatives that propel downtown forward. During the past year, DOP welcomed new projects and introduced those that will enhance the vibrancy and appeal of downtown. Every year, the DOP hosts the Golden Brick Awards to recognize the best community and development projects that impacted downtown.
Sports
XFL DC Defenders defeats Arlington Renegades 28-26 in overtime
Published
1 month agoon
April 16, 2023By
FNN NEWS
WASHINGTON DC (FNN SPORTS) – The D.C. Defenders improved to 8-1 Sunday after defeating Arlington Renegades 28-26 in overtime at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Kristina Roulo / Florida National News
Currently, the DC Defenders and Houston Roughnecks are still the only teams to clinch playoff spots, giving week 10 a significant amount of consequences for the remaining two spots.
D.C. jumped on the Renegades early as quarterback Jordan Ta’amu threw two touchdown passes and D’Eriq King also had one to give the Defenders a 20-9 halftime lead.
D.C. struck again in the third quarter when former Washington Redskins and longtime NFL safety, D.J. Swearinger intercepted Arlington quarterback Luis Perez and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown. At this point, the Defenders led 26-9.

Photo by Kristina Roulo / Florida National News
The Renegades made a furious fourth-quarter comeback after a pair of De’Veon Smith touchdown runs and a field goal to suddenly tie the game on a Taylor Russolino 27-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.
The game went into overtime where Ta’amu found Jake Hammond for the score and another Defenders’ win.
Next up for D.C. is a trip to San Antonio to close out the regular season before returning home in two weeks to host either St. Louis or Seattle for the North Division championship.
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