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ESTERO -- The word on Fort Valley (Ga.) State, entering Thursday's game, is that the Wildcats were plagued by hard luck, with four of their five losses by five points or less.

Not even a factor, this time.

Florida Gulf Coast's men did their best impersonation of the women's team -- which has made a habit of blowing out Alico Arena foes this season -- as they ran by Fort Valley State, 73-58, for FGCU's most convincing win in more than three weeks.

"We've talked bout needing to play a 40-minute game," said FGCU coach Dave Balza. "I just said to them at halftime that we needed to keep from having lapses."

The tone was set from the opening tip. Yavney Neptune hit a 3-pointer from the corner at the 19:35 mark, opening the way for an early 10-2 edge.

The lead was 39-20 at halftime, and FGCU led by 20-plus for a stretch of the second half. But Fort Valley State got within 56-42 with 8:41 left.

FGCU spent the rest of the night salting it away. They turned back the Wildcats for good in the final four minutes, buoyed by five straight points for a 67-48 lead.

The win was impressive for more reasons than one. Not only was FGCU seeing its first action in eight days, the Eagles were also without three injured players.

That number included sophomore Landon Adler, who is second on the team in points and rebounds. He sat out with a knee injury, suffered in FGCU's 70-61 victory over Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras to snap a two-game slide.

The Eagles (10-5) have won just once by 20 points or more. That was a 93-70 defeat of Puerto Rico-Bayamon on Nov. 28.

"We've played a really difficult schedule," said Balza, whose Eagles opened the season with a road trip to face Drexel and Penn. "And it will only continue to get more difficult."

They had a peach of a time against Fort Valley State, in part because of balance on offense. FGCU had four players in double figures, led by 15 points apiece by Neptune and Beau Bauer.

It was Neptune, Balza said, who played the most important role. In addition to the 15 points -- a career high -- the Port Charlotte product also had six rebounds and three steals.

"That might have been his best game ever," Balza said. "And we really needed him to step up."

The win came on the heels of another rout by the FGCU women, who blasted Arkansas Tech, 93-49, to open the double-header. That made the women a perfect 16-0 this season, with 14 of the wins by double digits.

Fort Valley State stayed winless in only six games. But Georgia Southwestern, which scored an 80-65 victory over the Wildcats on Dec. 19, is the only other team to beat the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team by double digits.

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