BOCA RATON, Fla. – The No. 21/24 Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team won its 20th consecutive game on Saturday, by grinding out a 70-63 victory over Western Kentucky. The Owls’ magical season continues, as FAU now has the longest winning streak in the nation with Charleston’s loss today.
FAU now stands at 21-1 on the season with an undefeated 11-0 mark in Conference USA. The Owls tie the FAU school record for wins in a season with 21, which was set in 2010-11.
Just like many of FAU’s conference games this season, today went down to the wire, as the Owls held a slight 61-58 lead with 3:13 remaining. After the Owls got a stop on the defensive end, Vladislav Goldin scored a key bucket off an assist from Nick Boyd. After a Hilltopper timeout, Goldin came up big on the defensive end with a block, but WKU got the rebound and hit a pair of free throws.
On the next possession, Goldin delivered again with a layup off a feed from Johnell Davis to push the lead back to 65-60. Davis got the rebound on the next possession and hit the two free throws to push the lead to 67-60, and the Owls held on in front of a third-straight sellout crowd for their 20th straight victory.
POSTGAME QUOTES FROM COACH MAY
“Just like all of the other wins this year, it was a team effort,” FAU head coach Dusty May said. “Spoon (Brandon Weatherspoon) and Brenen Lorient were huge. We did a lot of good things and everyone stepped up. When you look at this box score, you see why we’re as successful as we are because these guys really play well together. We’re taking some haymakers from really good teams. Hats off to Western Kentucky, they played hard and determined. We made the plays we needed to down the stretch. I thought we got all of the loose balls in the last five to eight minutes. ‘G’ (Giancarlo Rosado) had to play extended minutes, but hats off to all of our guys for another 100% team win once again.”
STATS & NOTES
- Weatherspoon scored a team high 11 points on 3-5 shooting, all from behind the three-point line. It was his first time this season leading the team in scoring this season
- The Owls fired all night from behind the arc with 38 attempts, making 13 of them, which is one off their season high of 14
- Five Owls (Weatherspoon, Boyd, Bryan Greenlee, Davis, Michael Forrest) knocked in at least two
- Davis continued to be a thief on the defensive end with three steals on the night after five last game
- Five Owls registered at least five rebounds (Weatherspoon, Greenlee, Davis, Alijah Martin, Rosado
- The Owls’ bench, which is the highest scoring bench in the nation, once again dominated, scoring 34 points compared to WKU’s six
- FAU won the fast break battle with 14 points to WKU’s two
NEXT UP
The Owls will hit the road next weekend, with a game at UAB on Thursday, Feb. 2 and a game at Charlotte on Feb. 4.
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