| NORFOLK, Va. – Jailyn Ingram exploded for 26 points Friday night vs. Old Dominion at Chartway Arena, but it wasn’t quite enough for Florida Atlantic. The Owls dropped a 71-67 decision to the Monarchs in FAU’s Conference USA opener. Ingram’s heroics kept the Owls in it all night long. With under 15 seconds remaining, FAU was in position for a game-tying or game-winning basket. Michael Forrest hit a 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining and drew a foul. He missed the free throw, but FAU played solid defense and regained possession. Forrest pulled down the rebound and raced into the frontcourt. He made a move toward the basket, but got caught in traffic, lost his balance and lost the ball with seven seconds remaining. The Owls were forced to foul. ODU’s Malik Curry hit both free throws and put the game out of reach, giving the Monarchs a four-point win. Lack of success at the free throw line hurt the Owls. FAU was just 4-of-11 from the charity stripe in a four-point loss. Ingram scored 16 of his 26 points in the first half. He absolutely dominated a four-minute stretch to almost single-handedly keep the Owls in contention. ODU built an eight-point, 24-16 lead with 9:18 remaining until halftime. Ingram then scored the next 10 points for FAU, outscoring Old Dominion 10-4 by himself to cut the deficit to two, 28-26. ODU held on to a 40-37 edge at the intermission. But it was Ingram who came out hot for the Owls. His breakaway dunk off a steal gave FAU the lead, 43-42, just 1:27 into the second half. Curry answered with a 3-pointer for ODU and the Owls wouldn’t lead again. Similar to the first half, the Monarchs built a nine-point lead with 8:04 remaining. And once again, the Owls scrapped back into the contest. A pair of 3-pointers from Kenan Blackshear and Bryan Greenlee trimmed the deficit to three, 63-60, with 4:39 on the clock. From there, it was back-and-forth until the final minute as Old Dominion hung on for the narrow victory. Ingram’s 26-point effort was a game-high and tied his season-best output. He was 12-of-17 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and added six rebounds. Greenlee was the only other Owl in double figures with 13 points. Blackshear led the way on the glass with eight rebounds, while Nicholas Boyd dished out a team-high four assists in just 14 minutes of action. Austin Trice paced ODU with 17 points and four blocked shots. Three Monarchs scored in double digits. FAU fell to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in C-USA, while ODU is now 6-3 overall and 2-1 in league play. Quoting Coach May Postgame Comments from FAU Head Coach Dusty May On the final FAU possession: “We felt like the floor was broken. We had a guard rebounding and pushing. We were trying to get Karlis (Silins) to come up and get a ball screen, just to get us attacking (with them) off-balance. Mike I guess saw a crease and attacked. I was screaming time out and they said he had already slipped (and didn’t award the time out).” On the loss: “This game came down to free throws and offensive rebounds. If we can clean those two things up. We just can’t get dominated in the paint like we did tonight. Austin Trice comes in and scores 17 with four blocks. Those four blocks were looks we got at the rim that we have to convert. When you factor in the shots we weren’t able to convert at the rim and the free throws, we’re just not a good enough offensive team to overcome those things.” On Jailyn Ingram: “That was an incredible individual performance by Jailyn. He was hard to guard. He got to the rim and finished in the paint, played through contact. He was very, very good. With J.I., it’s about his health. When he’s healthy and his body is cooperating, he’s got such a unique game.” On Tap The Owls and Monarchs will tip it off once again Saturday night at Chartway Arena, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. |
