MTSU Tops Owls, 87-79

Saturday, February 19

Boca Raton, Fla.

4 PM

Florida Atlantic

-1512,86 CUSA

Middle Tennessee

-197,103 CUSA

Middle Tenn.

Fla. Atlantic

2/19/2022 7:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score FAU-MTSU Box Score

BOCA RATON (FAUSports.com) – The Middle Tennessee State University men's basketball team outscored Florida Atlantic University 23-14 in points off turnovers Saturday at FAU Arena for a differential of nine points. The Blue Raiders also outscored the Owls 12-4 in second-chance points for a differential of eight points. MTSU parlayed those two advantages into an eight-point victory over FAU, 87-79.

For a second straight game, FAU (15-12, 8-6 CUSA) had opportunities in the second half to tie the game or take the lead and couldn't convert. FAU trailed by as many as six early in the second half, but battled back to within one on two different occasions midway through the half.

A Michael Forrest bucket pulled the Owls within one, 54-53, with 11:43 left. MTSU (19-7, 10-3 CUSA) had a layup blocked by Johnell Davis, but secured the rebound and scored to go back up by three. One minute later, Davis scored to pull the Owls within one, 56-55. After a 1-of-2 trip to the free-throw line for the Blue Raiders, FAU had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead and gave up a turnover.

MTSU scored eight of the next 10 points and grabbed a 64-57 lead with eight minutes remaining. FAU never got closer than five for the remainder of the contest.

"We had some bad breaks, but Middle (Tennessee) created those breaks," FAU head coach Dusty May said. "Now, we're focused on playing good basketball again. I thought two-three weeks ago we were playing as good a basketball as ever has been played on this court at times. Now, we're not playing very good basketball on either side of the ball. We have to go back to the details, to the details of daily work and focus on improvement."

Middle Tennessee pushed its advantage to 11 points late in the contest before settling for the eight-point victory.

The Owls' largest lead was just four points early in the game. FAU led for 6:01 in the contest, all in the first half. A Giancarlo Rosado bucket in the paint with 5:43 remaining in the first half put FAU up 28-25. But MTSU's Elias King hit a 3-pointer moments later to tie the game and spark his team to the lead at halftime. Including King's triple, the Blue Raiders outscored FAU 15-8 over the last five minutes of the half. MTSU never relinquished the lead from there.

Alijah Martin matched his career-best scoring output with 22 points, including five 3-pointers. He also recorded a game-best six rebounds for the Owls. Giancarlo Rosado reached double-digit scoring for the second straight game, tallying a career-best 15. Forrest and Everett Winchester added 12 and 10, respectively. Josh Jefferson scored a game-high 26 points to pace MTSU, including 3 3-pointers and nine points from the free throw line.

The Owls kick off a three-game road swing Thursday at Old Dominion University. Tipoff vs. the Monarchs is set for 7 p.m. in Norfolk, Va. FAU is at Charlotte Saturday afternoon, before a March 3 game at FIU. The Owls then wrap up the regular season March 5, hosting FIU at The Burrow.