BOCA RATON, Fla. – It was a grind-it-out type of win for the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team over Rice on Thursday night. Both FAU and Rice traded buckets throughout the night, especially in the second half, but the Owls of Florida Atlantic prevailed by a 90-81 final score.
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The victory pushes FAU's record to 23-2 on the season and 13-1 in Conference USA action. The Owls continue their dominant home play, remaining undefeated at home (14-0) with 15 consecutive wins in Paradise dating back to last season. Owl nation turned out with its fourth straight sellout crowd tonight.
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Both teams traded buckets in a high-scoring second half, as FAU edged Rice 52-49 in the final period. With FAU ahead 68-63 at the 6:48 mark of the second,
Vladislav Goldin scored five straight points by way of a thunderous dunk and an old-fashioned 3-point play. Goldin had a monster night, tying his career-high of 19 points on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting from the floor.
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With the Owls ahead 73-65 after Goldin's and-one,
Michael Forrest came up with a steal under the bucket to start a fast break. Forrest found
Nick Boyd on the runout, and Boyd hit
Alijah Martin in the corner who buried the 3-pointer to make it a 76-65 lead. Rice continued to hang around down the stretch run, but FAU got the buckets it needed to in order to seal its 23rd win of the year.
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"It was nice to find a way to win in front of a great crowd," FAU head coach
Dusty May said. "We talked about it all offseason, all pre-conference, that in order to win a championship, you have to play different styles, you have to be able to play different ways. Tonight, because of our inability to stop Rice, they're a great offensive team, we had to rely on our offense to win, and fortunately the guys stepped up. They made big free throws, we took care of the ball and made enough shots to win. Our two-point efficiency was excellent, our three-point shooting still needs to improve. I do think we're better shooters than what we're shooting. We're a work in progress and we still have a long way to go before we're peaking, which hopefully is in March."
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- It was an overall balanced scoring night for the Owls, with 10 players scoring and four recording double figures (Goldin, Martin 16, Johnell Davis 16, Forrest 14)
- Points off of the bench continued to be a story for the season, with the Owls outscoring Rice in that department 40-3
- FAU also made their mark in the paint, with 40 points compared to Rice's 18
- The Owls won the battle on the boards by double digits, out-rebounding Rice 39-28
- The Owls got to the free throw line 29 times and made the most of their opportunities, making 24 of them
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The Owls will remain in Paradise to face Louisiana Tech this Saturday, Feb. 11, for a 2 p.m. start.
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To stay up to date on all things FAU men's basketball, follow the Owls on social media @FAUMBB.
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