MACON, Ga. - Georgia natives
Jailyn Ingram and
Cornelius Taylor combined for 36 points in the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team's 65-50 win over Mercer on Sunday night. The Owls extended their winning streak to four games in a row with the victory.
Ingram scored the game's first points 45 seconds into the contest, and FAU (8-4) was able to maintain a small, but stubborn lead for most of the early going. Mercer (5-8) hit a 3-pointer to pull to within two, 16-14, with eight and a half minutes to play in the first half.
That was the Bears' last field goal for over five minutes, as the FAU defense smothered Mercer's offensive attack, allowing the Owls to take a seven-point lead in the process.
Michael Forrest hit a triple just before the halftime buzzer, giving FAU a 31-21 advantage.
After Mercer cut the margin to six early in the second half, the Owls' defense once again asserted itself, holding the Bears to just one field goal in the next 10 minutes of game action. Forrest connected on an alley-oop to Ingram to complete a scoring spurt that extended the FAU cushion to 15, 46-31, with just over eight minutes to play.
Mercer pulled to within six, 52-46, with four minutes to play. However, in just 41 seconds, Ingram hit a 3-pointer, Forrest drew an offensive foul, then
Karlis Silins hit a straight-on triple to put the Owls back up by a dozen. The lead remained in double-digits for the rest of the game.
- Ingram led the Owls with 21 points. It is the fifth time in FAU's last six games that he has scored in double figures. It is also his first 20+ point game since Dec. 5, 2018, when he had 22 points, also against Mercer. Additionally, he had season-highs in both rebounds (eight) and assists (five)
- Taylor scored 15 points and pulled down six rebounds
- Forrest came off the bench to score 13 points, grab three rebounds and distribute three assists
- The Owls held Mercer to 35.8 percent shooting from the floor, the lowest percentage of any Division I opponent this season
- FAU outrebounded the Bears 41-25, its largest rebounding advantage of the year
- With the win, FAU snapped a five-game road losing streak
FAU Head Coach
Dusty May
"For us to hold Mercer to 50 points is a testament to our guys and how locked in they were during the scout…Very, very impressed with our guys and how much better they're getting and their overall work ethic (over) the last two or three weeks."
The Owls wrap up their non-conference schedule at USF on Sunday, Dec. 29. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN3. 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.