| NORFOLK, Va. – The Florida Atlantic University men’s basketball team started like a house afire Saturday night at Chartway Arena. But an uncharacteristically high number of Owl turnovers doused the flames and led to a 64-55 Old Dominion victory. ODU jumped out to an early 5-2 lead. But it was all Owls over the next nine minutes. FAU put together a 20-3 run, its biggest scoring outburst in more than a month, to lead 22-8 with 8:37 left in the first half. Jailyn Ingram scored all 11 of his points in the contest during that outburst. But the Owls had trouble taking care of the ball. FAU turned the ball over 23 times on the night. The Owls came into the contest averaging just 11.8 giveaways per game. Old Dominion took advantage, outscoring FAU 20-3 in points off turnovers. Six of FAU’s first-half turnovers took place during a 12-0 Monarchs run that pulled them back within two points, 22-20. The Owls managed to cling to the lead going into the intermission, 29-26, but the turnover troubles weren’t cured at the break. The lead changed hands three times and the score was tied twice in the first eight minutes of the second half. But Old Dominion used an 11-0 spurt to gain control. There were four more turnovers during that 11-point Monarch spurt over the course of three minutes. A Bryan Greenlee 3-pointer, one of four for the sophomore, pulled FAU within five at the eight-minute mark as the Owls looked for momentum. But ODU scored the next four points to go on top by nine, 53-44. FAU wouldn’t get closer than nine points again for the remainder of the contest. Greenlee scored a game-high 14 points. Meanwhile, Ingram tallied the 10th double-double of his career and his second this season. He grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go with his 11 points. Ingram also dished out six assists, tying his career-best mark. Karlis Silins was also in double figures for the Owls, tallying 10 points. The Monarchs were led by A.J. Oliver’s 17-point outing, one of three ODU players in double figures. FAU falls to 5-6 overall and 0-2 in Conference USA action, while Old Dominion improves to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in league play. Quoting Coach May Postgame Comments from FAU Head Coach Dusty May On the loss: “For the first 10 or 12 minutes, I thought we played about as well as you can possibly play. When you do that and get the looks we were getting, you need to be up about 32 or 35-8, but we just kept missing wide open shots. Once they (ODU) closed the gap, they had good energy. We battled. We competed, but you’ve got to put the ball in the hole.” On the turnovers: “When you turn it over like we did and send them to the free throw line, it doesn’t bode well.” On the FIU series next week: “We have to get better. It’s rivalry week now. If that doesn’t motivate you and fire you up, then you don’t have much substance to you. It’s back to the drawing board. We’ve got to figure out rotations. We’ve got to figure out the most efficient way to play with our offensive liabilities. We’ve got to have a great week of practice.” On Tap FAU travels to Miami to face Florida International Thursday night with a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Panthers then visit Boca Raton and The Burrow on Saturday for a 4 p.m. contest. |
