BOCA RATON – In the final regular season game this past Saturday (March 5) for the FAU men’s basketball team, they made sure to take care of business at home.
The Owls (18-13; 11-7 in Conference USA) looked to cruise past the FIU Panthers (15-16; 5-13 in Conference USA) on Senior Day. But they needed to hold off a late furious rally by the road team to pull off their 84-76 victory.
Guards Alijah Martin (game-high 34 points) and Bryan Greenlee (17 points) combined for the game’s final six points – all of which came from the free-throw line – to secure their team’s eight-point margin of victory.
This turned out to be necessary because FIU found a way to claw back from a 21-point halftime deficit to getting within two points (78-76 deficit) with 50.2 seconds left in the game.
“We work on free throws everyday in practice,” Greenlee said. “Just knowing we can knock down two big free throws.”
Greenlee did that twice in the final minute, as he made the game’s final four points points from the stripe.
Martin did that once, as he was fouled by FIU at the 50.2-second mark.
“We just trust in our work,” Martin said. “We work hard every day. It’s a process.”
The play of FAU’s final regular season game was Martin’s ferocious dunk that occurred in the middle of the second half.
“As I was cutting out, I was going to punch it regardless,” Martin said. “The way the game was going, I had to get us a little more energy…I was just trying to be the dog for us.”
Owls forward and Palm Beach Lakes alum Giancarlo Rosado got involved late in the game, as he finished with 12 points in 23 minutes of action.
“I think he stepped up big for us,” Greenlee said. “He had two, three point blank layups at the rim. He had a Eurostep one at the end when the dude jumped. If he catches the ball in there, it’s likely that it’s going to be a high percentage shot.”
Now that the regular season is in the rearview mirror, FAU is focused on the Conference USA Tournament. The Owls will be playing against the winner of tonight’s (March 8) Southern Miss-UTSA game tomorrow night (March 9; 9:30 p.m. EST tip-off; ESPN+).
All conference tournament games will be played at Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Tx.
“One game at a time,” Martin said. “Now we’re trying to win the conference tournament. We’re trying to bring on back to Boca.”
Greenlee concurred.
“We’re trying to play the best 40 minutes of basketball we can each day,” Greenlee said. “I think if we do that, then we’ll be in a good spot.”
NOTE: FAU’s last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2002, when it was a No. 15 seed from the Atlantic Sun Conference.
PHOTO CREDITS: Keith Forde
