Owls Make Statement for Conference Title

Saturday, February 25

Jacksonville, Fla.

3:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Jacksonville

2/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Feb. 25, 2006

Final Stats

JACKSONVILLE, FL - The Florida Atlantic men's basketball team made its final statement for the Atlantic Sun Conference title with an 85-76 win over Jacksonville University at Swisher Gymnasium in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday.

The Owls (15-12, 14-6 A-Sun) closed with their best record ever in A-Sun play, bettering a 13-7 mark from the 2001-02 season. The win guarantees FAU at least the no. 3 seed for the tournament and opens the door for the Owls to share the A-Sun title.

Conference-leading Belmont and Lipscomb (both 14-5) are in action on Sunday, with BU battling East Tennessee State and LU facing Kennesaw State. Losses by both would create a three- or possible four-way tie for the title, pending the outcome of Gardner-Webb's game at Stetson tonight.

If the Owls share the title four ways, they would earn the no. 2 seed over no. 3 GWU and no. 4 Belmont. FAU can also move to the no. 2 seed by sharing second place with GWU and Belmont, a sequence in which Lipscomb would win the title outright.

The play of three seniors ignited FAU, which jumped out to a double-digit lead 20-10 at the 12:07 mark of the first half. The Owls built their advantage to 17 points on numerous occasions in the first and second halves but Jacksonville, on a 23-game losing streak coming into the game, fought back to within six points in the final minutes.

With FAU leading 71-54 with 6:50 remaining, Jacksonville (1-26, 1-19 A-Sun) had a seven-point trip down the floor. A lay-up by Aubrey Conerly, followed by an intentional foul by FAU's Fred Marshall on the rebound led to two free successful free throws by Matt Kampfe and a three from Antonio Cool.

That spurt gave JU momentum to pull within six points 75-69 at the 2:30 mark. While the Dolphins did not go away, FAU righted the ship to convert on eight-of-10 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Marshall set a career high with 12 rebounds, while fellow senior Rodney Webb had a team-high 20 points and hit eight-of-12 from the field. Classmate Quinton Young connected on four-of-five from three-point range and scored 14 points.

"I am so proud of Rodney, Fred and Quinton," stated head coach Matt Doherty. "They did a tremendous job of leading this team tonight. They are going out with the best A-Sun record in program history. The opportunity is now there for us to make a strong run in the A-Sun tournament."

Brent Crews had nine assists in the game, while Paul Graham added seven points and five assists. Carlos Monroe contributed 11 points and DeAndre Rice, 10.

The Owls shot 30-of-60 (50.0%) from the field, 15-of-19 (78.9%) at the free throw line and had a season-high six blocks. Freshman Marcus Allen had 21 points for JU, which shot 30-of-66 (45.5%) from the field and committed 17 turnovers.

FAU will face either no. 6 Stetson or no. 7 Campbell in the A-Sun quarterfinals on Thursday in Johnson City, Tenn. Final pairings and tip times are scheduled to be announced on Sunday.