Late Surge Pushes Men’s Basketball Past UTEP

Saturday, January 4

Boca Raton, Fla.

4 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

-105, 20 CUSA

UTEP

-96. 02 CUSA

UTEP

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

1/4/2020 7:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Madiaw Niang converted a three-point play with 41 seconds left that put the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team ahead for good in a 59-56 win over UTEP on Saturday. It was part of a 13-3 closing run for the Owls, who improved to 10-5 overall and 2-0 in Conference USA with the win.

How It Happened

Both offenses struggled early on in the contest. The Owls trailed 15-11, when for the second game in a row, a 3-pointer began a FAU rally. This time, it was Richardson Maitre's bucket that served as a catalyst, beginning a run of 10 straight points, resulting in a 21-15 FAU lead with seven minutes to play in the first half.

A Jailyn Ingram jumper increased the Owls' lead to eight later on in the period, but the Miners (9-6, 0-2 C-USA) finished the half on a 16-7 run and held a 31-28 advantage at the break.

In the second half, the FAU defense kept the game close. At one point, UTEP made just one field goal in over eight minutes of game action.

The Miners led 53-46 with 4:36 remaining in the game when FAU began its comeback. Karlis Silins made back-to-back triples and Cornelius Taylor put in a layup to help level the score at 54-54 with 1:19 on the clock. UTEP made a pair of free throws to retake the lead, but Maitre found Madiaw Niang under the basket for a layup. Niang was fouled on the play and hit his free throw attempt to put the Owls up 57-56.

FAU's defense turned away the Miners, Niang grabbed the rebound and found Maitre, who hit both of his attempts from the free throw line. The Owls' defense denied UTEP's attempts to tie the game, sealing the win for FAU.

Notables

Maitre had 14 points to lead all scorers. He also had a team-high six rebounds and four assists
Silins scored 12 points, his seventh double-digit scoring game of the year
Niang made the most of his four minutes of playing time, scoring five points including the go-ahead three-point play, and also pulled down two rebounds
The Owls' defense held the Miners to 34.8 percent shooting in the second half
FAU is 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2010-11, when the team was a member of the Sun Belt
FAU has now won five home games in a row

Quotables

FAU Head Coach Dusty May
"To have a really good season, you have to win some games when you don't play well, and I thought tonight we did that."

On Madiaw Niang…
"We didn't know if Madiaw was going to play until this afternoon and he gets five (points) and two (rebounds) in four minutes."

What's Next

The Owls will make their first C-USA road trip of the season, traveling to Rice on Thursday, Jan. 9. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. Eastern. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, live stats will be available at fausports.com, and the game can be heard on FOX Sports 640AM. Live updates will be posted to the team's official Twitter account, @FAU_Hoops.