Men’s Basketball: FAU’s second half comeback falls short in loss to North Texas

The Owls attempted a season-high 39 3-pointers in the game.

North+Texas+freshman+A.J.+Lawson+goes+up+for+a+layup+over+FAU+juniors+Frank+Booker+%2811%29+and+Ronald+Delph+during+the+Owls+70-64+loss+Thursday.+Alexander+Rodriguez+%7C+Contributing+Photographer

North Texas freshman A.J. Lawson goes up for a layup over FAU juniors Frank Booker (11) and Ronald Delph during the Owls’ 70-64 loss Thursday. Alexander Rodriguez | Contributing Photographer

Hans Belot Jr., Sports Editor

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lorida Atlantic men’s basketball, who went into halftime trailing by 11 points, chipped the University of North Texas’ lead down to two points but were unable to complete a second half comeback as they fell to the Mean Green 70-64 Thursday in Boca Raton.

The Owls (8-14, 4-7 Conference USA) would cut the Mean Green lead to two points twice in the second half after trailing by double digits both times, but couldn’t get back into the game.

“You don’t want to make it a habit to keep getting down by double digits,” said FAU head men’s basketball coach Michael Curry. “You’re not going to keep coming back from double digit [deficits] to win games. It takes a lot energy to come back from. We keep digging ourselves holes. You’ll get away with some of them, but you can’t keep living like this.”

FAU attempted a season-high 39 3-pointers, making just eight of them. FAU shot 31 percent from the field overall.

“They gave us a lot of open shots,” said Curry. “It was a lot of open shots and we missed them.”

North Texas (7-16, 1-10 Conference USA) — who stopped an 11 game losing streak with the win — finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field, including 6-for-18 from deep.

The Owls had three players in double digit scoring, led by sophomore Jeantal Cylla’s 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field. Junior Gerdarius Troutman attempted a season-high 11 3-pointers, but only knocked down two of them for the game.

FAU started the game rough, shooting 0-for-9 from the field with two turnovers while allowing North Texas to jump to an early 8-0 lead. Junior Ronald Delph came off the bench to score his team’s first bucket of the game after more than five minutes of play, a putback on an offensive rebound.

The Owls were never able to recover from their slow start to the half, ending the period shooting 24 percent from the field, including 2-for-18 from three point land. FAU went into the locker room trailing North Texas 35-24.

Massey had nine points at the half to lead FAU on 3-for-9 shooting from the field, but was held to just two points in the second half.

Sophomore Nick Rutherford came out of the break with two quick steals and four points for the Owls, sparking a 9-2 run to cut an 11-point halftime deficit down to four. FAU would continue to erase the deficit until Cylla’s 3-pointer with 12:45 left in the game gave the Owls their first lead of the night 43-42.

However, North Texas would extend its lead again, going up by as many as many as seven points while not allowing the Owls back into the game.

North Texas senior J-Mychal Reese led all scorers with 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field.

The Owls will host Rice University on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7:00 p.m. at FAU Arena.

Hans Belot Jr. is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him at @Don_Phenom_.