Owls Win Opener 92-81

Tuesday, November 5

Boca Raton, Fla.

7 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

1-0

Flagler

0-0

FLG

FAU

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

11/5/2019 11:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team saw its 25-point lead cut down to as little as five late, but was ultimately able to defeat Flagler 92-81 in its season opener on Tuesday night. The Owls won their season opener for the second year in a row.

The Start
The action in the early going featured lots of up and down play, but not a lot of scoring. After a Flagler layup cut FAU's lead to one at 10-9, Jailyn Ingram responded with a layup of his own, starting a run of 15 straight Owls' points. FAU led 25-9 at the end of the run. Four made three-pointers helped the Owls extended their advantage to 53-28. Flagler scored the final four points of the first half to make the score 53-32 at the break.

The Turning Point
A Cornelius Taylor triple gave FAU a 73-51 edge just over nine minutes into the second half. At that point, the Saints went on a 25-9 run, capped off by three Gedi Juozapolis free throws to pull within five, 82-77, with four and a half minutes to go.

The Finish
Taylor hit a pair from the charity stripe, then hit another three-pointer less than 90 seconds later to extend the margin back to 10, 89-79. The Owls clamped down defensively, giving up only four points over the game's final 4:26 to help seal the win.

Notables

Graduate transfer Cornelius Taylor scored 20 points in his first official game as an Owl to lead the team
Karlis Silins had 13 points and three rebounds
Michael Forrest notched 12 points
As a team, the Owls shot 52.4 percent from the floor, including 42.3 percent from behind the arc
All 13 Owls who saw the floor scored
Head Coach Dusty May improved to 2-0 in season openers

Quotables
Head Coach Dusty May
"It was great because we were in a pressure situation. Typically, the team that's favored, the team that's at home, the higher-level team tends to get tight and they're afraid to lose, as opposed to making plays to win. I never saw fear in our guys' eyes.

Guard Everett Winchester
"We put in a lot of work this summer, this offseason and we're just buying in to what Coach May tells us."

On Jailyn Ingram's return...
'It's really cool to see him get back into it after everything he went through last season with the ACL injury…It's going to be a great year for him."

Junior Forward Jailyn Ingram
On Cornelius Taylor…
"The things he did in the game, he does every day in practice. He makes big shots, so I expected nothing less from him."

What's Next
The Owls make their first road trip of the season on Friday, Nov. 8 at Miami. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. Links to live stats will be available at fausports.com. The game can be heard on FOX Sports 640AM. The game will air on Fox Sports Florida and will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. Live updates will be posted to the team's official Twitter account, @FAU_Hoops.