Owls Nipped by FIU 78-74

Wednesday, January 23

Boca Raton, Fla.

7 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

-119, 25 CUSA

FIU

-137, 43 CUSA

FIUM

Florida Atlantic

1/23/2019 11:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team lost to rival FIU by a narrow 78-74 score on Wednesday night. The Owls record is now 11-9 overall and 2-5 in Conference USA play.

The Start

With the score tied at 6-6, FAU launched a 12-2 run, earning an 18-8 lead in the process. The Panthers (13-7, 4-3) immediately responded with a 17-2 rally of their own, pulling ahead 25-20. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the half, with FIU scoring the final five points of the frame to take a 40-34 lead into the intermission.

The Turning Point

FIU scored the first four points of the second half, extending its lead to 44-34. The Owls didn't go away and rallied to tie the score at 52-52 on an Anthony Adger three at the 13:39 mark. The Panthers pushed their lead out to a game-high 12 with five and a half minutes left in the game.

The Finish

FAU, cheered on by a vocal crowd, fought its way back to within two and had the ball with 14 seconds left. The Owls had a pair of looks that could have tied the game, but both were unsuccessful. FIU hit two free throws to account for the final score.

Notables

· Anthony Adger scored 21 points to lead all players. It was his fifth 20-point game of the season

· Richardson Maitre posted a career-high 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the third game in a row, tying his career-high in that category, in addition to dishing out five assists

· Xavian Stapleton just missed a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds

· Aleksandar Zecevic tallied eight points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes of action

· As a team, the Owls outrebounded FIU 49-32, tying their largest rebounding margin of the season

· The official attendance of 2,087 was the largest for a FAU home game in over five years. 2,315 fans came out to watch the Owls play Harvard on Jan. 21, 2014

Quotable

FAU Head Coach Dusty May

"We were proud that our guys fought back and showed a lot of resolve in the last three or four minutes to get back and give us an opportunity…we just want to be in a position to win at the end and we were."

Looking Ahead

FAU travels to Western Dade County on Saturday, Jan. 26 for a rematch against FIU. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on CUSA.tv. Live audio can be heard on ESPN 106.3 FM. In-game updates will also be available at twitter.com/FAU_Hoops.