BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Jan. 16, 2020) – Big shots by Jailyn Ingram and Richardson Maitre capped a pair of dramatic runs as the Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team defeated Middle Tennessee 97-94 in overtime on Thursday night.
The Owls (12-6, 4-1 Conference USA) trailed 80-69 with less than four minutes to play. Michael Forrest made a jumper, then stole the ball and found Cornelius Taylor for a layup to cut the deficit to seven. Ingram collected a steal and then converted a layup of his own, as FAU took just over a minute to cut what had been an 11-point deficit down to five, 80-75.
With the crowd back into the game, Middle Tennessee (4-14, 0-5 C-USA) missed a jumper. Richardson Maitre grabbed the rebound, then hit a 16-footer to pull the Owls to within a possession, 80-77, with 2:11 remaining. The Blue Raiders answered with a 3-pointer, stretching the lead back out to six. Maitre found Taylor for a triple in the corner to cut the margin back down to three.
The FAU defense forced another MT turnover and Maitre made another jumper, as the Owls found themselves down by just a point, 83-82. FAU had two chances to take the lead, but came up empty. After an Ingram foul, MT made a pair of free throws to go up 85-82.
Out of a FAU timeout, Everett Winchester found Ingram in the short corner on the inbound pass and Ingram tied the game with 0.6 seconds left on the clock. The Blue Raiders were unable to get off a potential game-winner and sent the game into overtime. The Owls made eight of their final nine field goal attempts in regulation.
MT scored eight of the first 11 points of the extra session and led 93-88 with 2:19 to play. Maitre stepped up down the stretch for the Owls. He made a pair of free throws to trim the lead to three, pulled down the defensive rebound on the following Blue Raider possession, then tied the game with his third triple of the night.
Ingram was whistled for his fifth foul with 1:05 to play in the game. MT split the trip to the line, then Taylor converted a running layup off the glass to put the Owls ahead, 95-94, with 45 seconds on the clock. Maitre grabbed the rebound off of a Blue Raider miss and made one of his two free throws. Madiaw Niang pulled down the board after another empty Blue Raider possession and found Maitre, who made hit a free throw to extend the FAU lead to 97-94. MT had a look at a game-tying three, but the shot was off, as the Owls’ third defensive stop in a row sealed the win.
Notables
- Taylor led all scorers with 26 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds
- Maitre posted career highs in points (19) and rebounds (eight). All 19 points came in the second half and overtime. He also dished out a season-high five assists to lead the Owls
- Ingram scored 16 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had four assists
- Forrest registered 10 points, four assists and three rebounds
- The Owls’ win was their sixth win in a row at home, matching last season’s longest streak
- Thursday’s game was the highest-attended home game of the season for FAU, with 2,002 fans at RoofClaim.com Arena. Coach May and Jailyn Ingram thanked the crowd for their contribution to the victory after the game
Quotables
FAU junior forward Jailyn Ingram
On his 3-pointer at the end of regulation…
“Coach (May) called my name for the last play and I knew I had to make something happen. I felt like I wasn’t playing to my potential for the whole game, so just to give us another five minutes to play felt really good.”
“I knew that if I kept shooting, one of them would fall and the one that mattered the most fell.”
On the crowd…
“(The arena) hasn’t been like that in a while. I’m glad the fans came out and showed support. I feel like they gave us the burst we needed to come back.”
FAU Head Coach Dusty May
“The last five minutes of regulation and overtime we played with the sense of urgency and competitiveness that we need to if we want to be in championship contention.”
“We were down, I think 11, and no blinked, no one looked shook. Our defense fueled the run. (I’m) very proud of our guys’ effort and belief at the end.”
On the crowd…
“(The fans were) incredible. Our fans were amazing. This place was loud, it was rocking. It went hand in hand, we don’t win that game if we don’t have the crowd that we had. It definitely fueled our last run at the end of the game.”
What’s Next
FAU will host UAB on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be available at fausports.com. The game can be heard on FOX Sports 640AM. Live updates will be posted to the team’s official Twitter account, @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 4-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 52-28 victory over SMU in the 2019 Cheribundi 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.
