CUSA Mountain West Conference

Owls Fall on Last Second Shot

Ken

By Ken Cross

The Florida Atlantic Owls comprised a 35-4 record, won Conference USA’s regular season, the CUSA Tournament, and then they dropped Memphis, Tennessee, and Kansas State along with Fairleigh Dickinson to move into Saturday’s Final Four.

While FAU dropped a 72-71 decision when San Diego State guard Lamont Butler hit a jumper at the buzzer, the Owls’ emotions had to have taken a fall after they had played so well in the tournament and against the Aztecs and then lose in such a tough manner.

Bryan Greenlee and Alijah Martin hit back-to-back threes with 5:09 left in the first half to give FAU a 32-26 lead and they never trailed again until Butler’s game-winner.

“I say it all the time – In this era, it’s hard to find great teammates, even when things aren’t going well for them individually and we have a locker room full of them,” said Owls head coach Dusty May. “That’s why we had the year we had. They work incredibly hard. They care about people and it was never about them as individuals. It was about us as a collective unit.”

The Owls’ lead peaked at 56-42 when Martin netted seven free throws in a row as the last two came with 13:53 remaining in the game. Martin led all scorers with 26 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes. He carried the Owls with 19 of their 31 points in second half.

“Just thinking, like, just knowing that our season’s over,” noted Martin. “We had fun. We never really wanted the season to end. Even if we was going to win the national championship, we were going to look forward to another game.”

The Owls had a tough time negotiating the San Diego State defense in the second half after they were 15-of-28 from the floor with six threes in building a 40-33 halftime lead. SDSU made it tougher in the second half as they held Florida Atlantic to 8-of-24 as Giancarlo Rosado was the only Owl to connect from the field other than Martin in the game’s last 11:57.

The Aztecs kept missing free throws, but they pulled down three on the back ends of free throw opportunities. That moved San Diego State forward and was a tough area for FAU as the Aztecs accumulated eight offensive rebounds in a two minute stretch.

“They went on a run, getting extra possessions, and that was really the turning point of the game,” explained Martin. “But just looking back at it, we’re not really going to allow that to happen again. We’ve been through that one time, and we’re not going to let it happen.”

Nick Boyd was en fuego early as he hit a pair of threes in a 16-3 Owls run in the first half as FAU flipped a 14-5 deficit when Davis and Bryan Weatherspoon made two free throws each on back-to-back trips which gave the Owls a 21-17 lead with 10:01.

“I mean, like I said, we’re just ready to get better, keep working,” Boyd explained. We’ve got a group of guys that are coming back, hungry, determined, and the sky’s the limit for us.”