MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Johnson
561-302-0461, jjohn218@fau.edu
FAU Men’s Basketball Falls to Louisiana Tech 72-69 on Senior Night
BOCA RATON, Fla. – (March 6, 2019) – A late rally by the Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team came up just short on Wednesday night as the Owls lost to Louisiana Tech 72-69 on Senior Night. The Owls are now 17-13 on the season and 8-9 in Conference USA.
The Start
The Bulldogs (19-12, 9-9) built a nine-point lead, 21-12, eight and a half minutes into the game. FAU scored six straight points to pull to within three at 21-18, but La Tech responded with a quick 5-0 run to push the cushion to eight. The margin was back to nine, when Anthony Adger hit a triple with 1:32 left in the first half to make the score 34-28. Both teams went scoreless for the remainder of the half.
The Turning Point
After the Bulldogs began the second half with a jumper, Adger made a layup that kicked off a 9-0 Owls’ run, capped by a Karlis Silins bucket that gave FAU a 37-36 edge at the 15:21 mark. The lead changed hands seven times in the next 10 minutes, ending with a Bracey triple that put La Tech up 58-57. That began a 13-1 Bulldog run, putting them up 68-57 with 1:07 remaining.
The Finish
FAU, as it has all year long, continued to fight. Xavian Stapleton made a pair of free throws, followed by La Tech missing the front end of a one-and-one, followed by Michael Forrest sinking two attempts from the line. The Bulldogs split their next trip to the charity stripe, followed by Stapleton making a three, pulling the Owls to within four, 69-65 with 24 seconds left. La Tech made two free throws, but Silins answered with a thunderous dunk. Stapleton stole the inbounds pass and made two more free throws, trimming the FAU deficit to 71-69 with 7.4 seconds left. The Bulldogs split another trip to the charity stripe, giving the Owls a chance to tie the score, but they were unable to convert on the final possession.
Notables
· Karlis Silins scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed six rebounds
· Anthony Adger registered 17 points and pulled down five boards. He also made two three-pointers, giving him 85 for the season, tied with Greg Gantt for the third highest single season total in FAU history.
· Xavian Stapleton tallied 16 points and seven rebounds
· Richardson Maitre didn’t score, but grabbed five rebounds and dished out five assists
· The Owls outrebounded La Tech 35-26. FAU has 1,201 rebounds this season, a school record
· FAU hit seven triples as a team, extending its school record to 266 on the year
Quotable
FAU Head Coach Dusty May
“At some point, we have to come out and throw the first punch and be the aggressor from the tip, Louisiana Tech did that tonight.”
Looking Ahead
The Owls will finish the regular season at Marshall on Saturday, March 9. Tip-off is set for noon and the game will air on Stadium. Live audio can be heard on ESPN 106.3 FM.
Social Media
For complete coverage of FAU men’s basketball, follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@FAU_Hoops).
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
