Last-second Shot Sends Owls Home with Loss

Tuesday, February 7

Macon, Ga.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

Mercer

2/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Feb. 7, 2006

Final Stats

MACON, GA. - Rodney Webb scored 22 points, hitting seven-of-11 from the field and six-of-seven at the free throw line, as the Florida Atlantic men's basketball team fell to Mercer on a last-second jumper 74-73 on Tuesday evening at the University Center in Macon, Ga.

The loss dropped FAU (11-11, 10-5 A-Sun) a full game behind East Tennessee State for first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Freshman Montavious Waters threw up a 15-foot fade-away jumper as the buzzer sounded to give the Bears the win. Waters' shot was the fourth attempt in the final six seconds for Mercer.

Webb had given FAU the lead 73-72 just 13 seconds earlier with a three-pointer from the left corner. Waters' jumper capped a night in which FAU led by as many as eight points in each half after trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half.

The Owls shot 44.3% from the field and limited Mercer to just 40.8% shooting. FAU committed 19 turnovers and had 18 assists on the night.

DeAndre Rice scored 15 points and Quinton Young had 10. Derrick Simmons had a career-high five steals, Brent Crews, a game-high eight assists and Carlos Monroe, eight rebounds.

"This may have been our worst game of the season," stated head coach Matt Doherty. "We came out flat. We did nothing to earn the win, that's why we are leaving with the loss."

Waters totaled 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and six steals for Mercer (6-15, 5-10 A-Sun). Will Emerson and Andrew Brown paced the Bears with 17 points each.

FAU returns to action on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. in a conference game at Stetson. The game can be heard on 1040 AM WLVJ and on www.fausports.com.