SPORTS

The Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders (19-12) overwhelmed FAU (14-15) both offensively and defensively to drop the Owls to eighth place in the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday, Feb. 27, at FAU Arena.

Two turnovers and three missed shots started the game for the Owls, but not only was their offense sluggish, their defense couldn’t contain MTSU, as they scored twice in the first two minutes without an FAU answer.

The Owls picked up their performance at the end of the first half, getting within 10 points of MTSU. FAU freshman guard Raymond Taylor was a big part of the late first-half surge. Taylor hit a driving layup to finish the half 32-22 in favor of the Blue Raiders.

The second half started with an easy missed shot by FAU junior guard Sanchez Hughley that foreshadowed the rest of the game for the Owls. Not only did they miss shots, FAU made only 12 of 20 free throws.

“There are a couple things you have got to do to win a game. One of them is make free throws. We could not make free throws tonight,” said FAU head coach Mike Jarvis.

Near the end of the game the Owls attempted a rally, but they could not pull themselves together enough to accomplish the goal. Breakdowns in communication resulted in the ball being turned over, and poor passing in the last minutes doomed the Owls’ comeback.

“For whatever reason, there was something lacking tonight. I don’t know what it was. Maybe we were just due for one of these games,” said Jarvis. “But we’re going to have to put that behind us and move forward.”

Hughley finished the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds, tying his career high of rebounds in a game. FAU freshman guard Greg Gantt was the highest-scoring player of the game, with 17 points.

With the loss FAU falls to the eighth seed for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which starts Saturday, March 6, in Hot Springs, Ark. The Owls will play University of South Alabama.