| BOCA RATON – Charlotte shot 42 free throws Saturday night in a 74-71 victory over FAU at Abessinio Court. The 49ers (7-7, 3-3 CUSA) converted 34 of them, compared to 18-of-20 for the Owls (8-7, 3-3). The 16-point disparity at the free throw line was the key factor in Charlotte’s win. Jahmir Young scored 25 points for the 49ers, including a 13-of-18 night at the charity stripe. Jordan Shepherd contributed 19 points for Charlotte, including 9-of-10 at the line and two huge buckets late in the contest. Karlis Silins led the way for FAU with 17 points, while hitting 9-of-10 from the line himself. Michael Forrest and Kenan Blackshear each added 14 for the Owls as well. Charlotte led by 10 at the intermission, but FAU stormed back. The Owls used a 12-2 run early in the second half to tie the game at 42-42. It was tied again at 49-49 and at 54-54 with six minutes let in the game. While FAU tied it three times, they never could get over the hump and take the lead. With 1:35 remaining, the Owls cut the deficit to one point, 68-67 on a traditional three-point pay from Blackshear. But Shepherd then made the two biggest buckets of the game for Charlotte. With just over a minute left, he found his way into the lane and hit a 14-foot jumper. Seconds left he picked off an errant Forrest pass and tallied a breakaway dunk to put his team up by five, 71-66 with 45 seconds remaining. Despite Shepherd’s heroics, FAU had an opportunity to tie at the buzzer. Trailing by the final margin of 74-71, FAU inbounded and needed to go the length of the floor. A long pass was knocked out of bounds by Charlotte, putting the ball in the front court with 1.3 seconds remaining. The Owls got the ball in to Bryan Greenlee, who was open outside the arc. But he stepped on the sideline as he caught the inbounds pass, killing any chance at a game-tying 3-pointer. FAU converted six more field goal opportunities than Charlotte and hit five 3-pointers, compared to four for the 49ers. But the Owls couldn’t overcome the 28 fouls called against them and the resulting 42 free throws. Two Owls – Dardan Kapiti and Everett Winchester – fouled out of the contest. Quoting Coach Miskdeen Quotes from Acting Head Coach Akeem Miskdeen On the loss: “The guys wanted to win. They fought tooth and nail all the way to the end. That’s all you can ask, put yourself in position to win the game.” On the number of foul calls: “It was definitely (called) different than Friday. We had a lot to do with that. We committed a lot of fouls. That had a lot to do with the pace of the game and it was their (Charlotte’s) type of pace, a slow-down, grind-out game. With all the free throws, we couldn’t get out in transition and that hurt us, because we’re one of the better transition teams in Conference USA.” On Tap The Owls will head out on the road this next weekend, traveling to Huntington, W. Va. to face off with Marshall. The Thundering Herd swept a pair of games from FIU this weekend in Miami. Both FAU and Marshall will enter the weekend series with identical 3-3 Conference USA marks and will be looking to move out of the logjam in the middle of the C-USA East Division standings. |
