FORT MYERS, Fla. – Chase Fieler scored 22 points and gathered 15 rebounds as top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast survived a scare from East Tennessee, 69-64, in the semifinal round of the Atlantic Sun tournament on Thursday.
FGCU will face second-seeded Mercer (25-8), which defeated No. 3 USC Upstate (19-14) 78-75 in the other semifinal Thursday night.
The teams traded the lead six times with seven ties down the stretch and were tied at 62 until Brett Comer's dunk for FGCU with 2:06 left. Jamail Jones followed with a 3-pointer, then hit 2 of 4 free throws to ice the win. ETSU missed its last eight field goal attempts.
Florida Gulf Coast (22-11) hit five of its last seven shots in the first, including a 3-pointer by Filip Cvjeticanin, to lead 34-33 at the break. FGCU pushed its lead to six just four minutes into the second half, but a jumper by Devin Harris and a 3-pointer by Rashawn Rembert drew ETSU (18-15) within one at 43-42.
ETSU was led by Rembert's 18 points.
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