Owls Roll Past Tampa, 84-35

Thursday, December 19

Boca Raton, Fla.

7 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

7-4

Tampa

3-9

TAMPA

Florida Atlantic

2020 FAU Men's Basketball vs Palm Beach Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

12/19/2019 10:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. - An impressive effort on both ends of the floor propelled the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team to an 84-35 victory over Tampa on Thursday night. The Owls went 5-1 on their six-game homestand and are now 7-4 on the season.

How It Happened

FAU was in control from the start, with seven different Owls scoring to take an early 19-4 lead. Michael Forrest scored eight points in less than three and a half minutes, helping to extend the margin to 19, 25-6.

The Owls closed the first half on a 15-2 spurt, capped by an Aleksandar Zecevic layup, to go up 42-12 at the half. Tampa's 12 first half points are the fewest given up by FAU in a half this year.

Jaylen Sebree went on a personal 8-0 run to stretch the FAU lead to 57-19 less than six minutes into the second half. The cushion remained at least 31 for the rest of the night, as the Owls combined stifling defense with hot shooting, frustrating the Spartans on both ends of the floor.

FAU finished strong, scoring 17 of the game's final 21 points. D.J. Robertson scored seven points during the run.

Notables

Forrest led the Owls with 15 points. He also had two rebounds and an assist
Sebree posted 11 points for his first double-digit scoring game of the season
Robertson, Jailyn Ingram and Cornelius Taylor scored 10 points each, giving FAU five players in double figures. Robertson's 10 were a career-high for the freshman
The 35 points allowed is the third fewest given up in school history
49 points ties for the third biggest margin of victory in program history and is the second biggest since moving to Division I
FAU shot 54.2 percent from the field, its best percentage under head coach Dusty May
FAU made a season-high 14 3-pointers
As a team, the Owls dished out 19 assists, the most so far this year
12 Owls scored on the night, and all 12 played at least 10 minutes

Quotable

FAU Head Coach Dusty May
"Our guys are starting to trust each other and they're starting to play better off of each other."

What's Next

The Owls make their first road trip in over a month when they travel to Mercer on Sunday, Dec. 22. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be available at fausports.com. The game can be heard on FOX Sports 640AM. Live updates will be posted to the team's official Twitter account, @FAU_Hoops.