Owls Open Season With Overtime Victory Over Boston College

Monday, November 3

Boca Raton, Fla.

7 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

1-0,0-0American

Boston College

0-1,0-0ACC

OT 1

Boston College

Fla. Atlantic

Photo by: JESSICA VERNOF

11/3/2025 11:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Ben Paul

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Late game heroics from freshman Yohann Sissoko lifted the Florida Atlantic men's basketball team past Boston College in an 83-78 overtime win at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena on Monday night.

The Owls (1-0) battled back from a late second half deficit versus the Eagles (0-1) to tie the game and missed just one shot in the extra five minutes to start the season with a victory, their first over a power conference team at home since December of 2002 against Miami.

FIRST HALF
A nearly full court pass to a wide-open redshirt sophomore guard Devin Vanterpool for the slam dunk opened the Owls' scoring. A 12-3 Owls run, highlighted by nine points from junior Xander Pintelon, gave FAU a nine-point lead.

A three-pointer by redshirt sophomore forward Devin Williams put Florida Atlantic up by 10 for the first time of the night. Boston College closed the deficit to one, but junior guard Kanaan Carlyle hit a late three-pointer to give the Owls a 35-31 advantage entering halftime.

SECOND HALF
Six straight points from Isaiah Elohim built Florida Atlantic's lead, with the redshirt sophomore guard putting together a highlight reel sequence of plays featuring a driving slam dunk followed by an acrobatic and-one.

The Eagles tied the game with 10 minutes remaining and soon took a six-point lead off the 8-0 run. Boston College was up by nine with under five minutes left, but the lead was cut to three in less than a minute with back-to-back three pointers from Sissoko and Carlyle.

Down by five with 46 seconds to play, the Owls forced a turnover to get the ball back, with Carlyle drawing the foul and sinking two free throws to cut the score to 66-63. The Eagles did not have an opportunity to close out the game, with Sissoko intercepting a pass and drilling a shot from beyond the arc to tie the score at 66 apiece with 31 seconds on the clock. Neither team scored again, sending the game into overtime.

OVERTIME
The duo of Carlyle and Sissoko came up clutch once again, with the former sinking a three to tie it at 78-78 and a driving layup from Sissoko to take a lead that the Owls did not relinquish.

A three-pointer from Pintelon with just over a minute to go put Florida Atlantic up by six, sealing the victory.

PRESS CONFERENCES

GALLERY

Gallery: (11-3-2025) MBB vs. Boston College

STATS & NOTES

The Owls last played an overtime game at the Elly in February of 2023, also an FAU victory.
Among the five players with double digit scoring, Carlyle finished with 19 points to lead the team.
Vanterpool nabbed a career high eight rebounds, seven coming in the first half. He also dished out a career best six assists to lead the Owls.
Sissoko finished with 15 points in his collegiate debut, finishing a perfect three-for-three from beyond the arc.
Pintelon recorded three blocks.
As a team, the Owls shot 52% (12-for-23) from three-point range.

UP NEXT
Florida Atlantic will travel to Lynchburg, Virginia, for the third edition of the Field of 68 Classic on Saturday, Nov. 8, against Charleston and Sunday, Nov. 9, versus host Liberty. Both games tip off at 6 p.m. on YouTube.

FOLLOW THE OWLS
To stay up to date on all things FAU men's basketball, follow the Owls on social media @FAUMBB.

Florida Atlantic's 2025-26 season is sponsored by Phil Smith Kia/Phil Smith Acura.