Kevion Nolan's buzzer-beater leads Jacksonville University past Florida Gulf Coast

The ball left Kevion Nolan's hands, and all Osayi Osifo could do was watch — watch and remember the stories he heard when he transferred to Jacksonville University from Florida.

"I'd heard a lot about his game-winners last year, before the injuries," Osifo said.

When the story of the 2021-22 JU men's basketball season is finished, circle Jan. 8, 2022 as the Kevion Nolan Game.

Three 3-pointers in the final minute, each more improbable than the last. Turning the tables on a Sunshine State rival.

For the first time in nearly six years, Duval over Dunk City.

Nolan scored a game-high 25 points, none more dramatic than a trio of 3-pointers — the last a game-winner from near halfcourt — beating Florida Gulf Coast 69-66 at Swisher Gym in the Dolphins' ASUN opener.

Head coach Jordan Mincy, winner of his first ASUN game since joining the Dolphins from Mike White's University of Florida staff, couldn't quite believe his eyes.

"You look out there and you say to yourself, 'Is that [Phoenix Suns NBA guard] Devin Booker?'" Mincy said. "The only kind of shots you see like that are usually on TNT, watching those NBA games. So those last four, five minutes, you kind of just become a fan, even though you're his head coach."

Overcoming a near throw-away on the inbound play with 7.6 seconds to go, the redshirt junior guard from Anniston, Ala. beat the buzzer with a high, arcing 35-foot shot that swished through the net, all the way from the U on the floor's JU logo.

JU (9-4, 1-0 ASUN) hadn't beaten the Eagles in nine meetings, not since an 83-80 victory on Feb. 1, 2016.

In his 2020-21 campaign, shortened to nine games by injury, Nolan displayed his clutch instinct. Now, in a new season, with a new coach, he's done it again.

"They mentioned the North Florida game here last year... they said in that first game he was unbelievable, he hit a couple [game-deciding] shots," Mincy said. "So at the end of the game, I told [assistant] Coach [Vincent] Martin, 'I see what you're saying.'

"In big moments, he shows up."

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WILD SWISHER GYM FINISH

Nolan wasn't the only player achieving down-the-stretch heroics: Until the buzzer, Florida Gulf Coast's Tavian Dunn-Martin matched Nolan basket for basket.

Dunn-Martin hit a 3-pointer from nearly 25 feet to push Florida Gulf Coast into the lead. Nolan responded with an equally long shot at the other end seconds later to knot the score at 63-63.

Then, after Mike Marsh grabbed a rebound, Nolan hit a go-ahead 3-pointer from well outside the arc for a 66-63 edge with 13 seconds to go.

Wrapped up? Far from it. Dribbling into the JU defense at the opposite end, Dunn-Martin tried a leaning 3-pointer, off-balance and off-target, but he drew a foul by the Dolphins' Jordan Davis with 7.6 seconds to go. The graduate transfer, who led FGCU with 24 points, hit all three free throws.

After two timeouts, JU nearly lost the inbound pass, but Tyreese Davis found Nolan to escape trouble. But Nolan barely had time to cross the mid-court line before launching his shot.

"When I let it go, I'm watching it go just like everybody else," Nolan said. "From my view, it's lining up to drop. And when it drops, you know, all I could do was thank God."

"I kind of had a feeling he was going to make it," Osifo said. "That's kind of like a 60 percent shot for him."

Officials went to the monitor to determine whether Nolan had indeed beaten the buzzer, then confirmed the basket was good.

JU trailed by five points inside the last three minutes, before 3-pointers by Nolan and Tyreese Davis sliced the Eagles' edge to one score.

Marsh (10 points, 12 rebounds) tied the score 60-60 for JU with 1:28 to go, grabbing an offensive rebound, surviving a foul to hit a layup and sinking the ensuing free throw.

"That's really our identity, never to quit," Nolan said.

STRUGGLES ON OFFENSE

JU relied on Nolan to revive a sagging offense that was averaging barely 30 percent from the field before the last three minutes.

"He was unbelievable, just telling our guys, 'Hey, look, we're going to put a stretch together right here. Everybody stay locked in,'" Mincy said.

A Jordan Davis three-point play had pushed JU's advantage to 46-42 midway through the second half. But the Dolphins endured a scoring drought of three and a half minutes, and Florida Gulf Coast center Kevin Samuel (12 points, 11 rebounds) used his interior muscle to help carry the Eagles (11-5, 1-1 ASUN) back in front of a game with 12 ties and eight lead changes.

Osifo, the top rebounding force on JU's interior in the first half, picked up four fouls in the space of three minutes and 48 seconds.

"We've got to fix a lot of mistakes, to be honest, on the defensive end," Osifo said. "But Kevion's shots made up for it."

WINNING START IN ASUN

JU enters the second week of conference play in an unaccustomed position — unbeaten in the ASUN. The key now is keeping it up.

The Dolphins couldn't last year, when they opened the conference schedule 3-0 (a sweep of Kennesaw State and a River City Rumble victory against North Florida) but proceeded to drop the next seven games.

JU entered Saturday night second in NCAA Division I in scoring defense at 54.2 points per game allowed, while topping the ASUN in a host of categories, from 3-point defense to rebounding margin to defensive shooting percentage. The Dolphins once more won the rebound battle, 41-34

"That's just a testament to who we want to be, a different type of Jacksonville team," Osifo said.

JU HALL OF FAME HONORS

A halftime ceremony honored the latest inductees to the JU Athletic Hall of Fame.

Inducted were Charlene Charles (women's track and field), Ayron Hardy (men's basketball), Cameron Mann (men's lacrosse), Brittney Orashen (women's lacrosse), Sammie Strausbaugh (volleyball) and R. Stephen Lucie for his contributions to JU sports medicine.

The school also held a ceremony recognizing the Dolphins baseball team that rallied from the conference cellar to win the ASUN tournament last May.

JU returns to action quickly for a Tuesday night meeting with old rival Stetson, also at Swisher Gym. FGCU travels Tuesday night to Kennesaw State.

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Buzzer-beater: Kevion Nolan, Jacksonville University defeat FGCU basketball