BOCA RATON – The Florida Atlantic Owls men’s college basketball team hung with the Miami Hurricanes at home Tuesday night (Nov. 16).
While the final score would be 68-66 in favor of the road team, it was refreshing to know that FAU (1-2) battled back from a 34-20 halftime defect to Miami (3-1) and had a chance to either force overtime or pull off the upset victory.
Down by five points with 16.6 seconds left in the second half, Owls sophomore guard Bryan Greenlee (nine points) sliced through the Hurricanes defense and made an and-1 shot to set up a thrilling finish at FAU Arena.
But the Hurricanes were not about to allow the Owls to snatch this win away from them.
Here is how the game actually ended.
After Owls junior Michael Forrest (game-high 21 points) made a three-pointer to tie the game up at 66-66 with 16 seconds left, it was Hurricanes guard Isaiah Wong (team-high 18 points) who found a way to hit a game-winning bank shot with 0.7 second left.
Miami ultimately secured the two-point win over FAU on a defensive stop at the buzzer.
“We can still play much better than we did,” FAU men’s basketball head coach Dusty May said in last night’s post game press conference. “Hats off to Wong. He got a basket in a crucial situation. I think we did grow up from the first half to the second half. We are a work in progress. But we have a chance to be a very good basketball team.”
The difference in this game turned out to be free throw shooting for both teams. FAU made just 10 of 24 free throws (41.6 percent), while Miami made 30 of 38 from the line (78.9 percent).
“It could be nerves,” May said. “It could be this environment. We’re not used to playing with this much passion and energy in the building. We felt the energy from the fans and the students. We have to adjust better, step up, and knock them down. We have to take better care of the basketball.”
FAU was down by as many as 16 points in the first half before its second-half rally came to fruition against Miami.
“Our Achilles heel last year was valued basketball,” May said. “We have to continue doing a better job of working on the right things in that area.”
Aside from Forrest and Greenlee, FAU had some other key contributors last night: guard Alijah Martin (17 points), guard Everett Winchester (seven points), and forward Vladislav Goldin (game-high 11 rebounds, three points).
Also: Owls freshman forward and Palm Beach Lakes alum Giancarlo Rosado scored two points and added a steal in 12 minutes of action against the Hurricanes.
NOTES: The next three games for FAU are at home. They are against UT-Martin (Friday, Nov. 19; 6 p.m. tip-off), North Dakota (Saturday, Nov. 20; 6 p.m tip), and Troy (Monday, Nov. 22; 7 p.m. tip) for The Paradise Classic.
The next game for Miami is at home against Florida A&M (Sunday, Nov. 21; 8 p.m. tip).
PHOTO CREDITS: Jonathan Forde
