FAU men’s basketball made last minute mistakes that allowed for Louisiana to get a late second half lead and their first win at FAU’s home court 67-62.

Louisiana Tech’s (14-9, 5-5 Conference USA)  first lead in the second half Thursday was with less than three minutes in the game. The Bulldogs lead steamed from FAU (10-12, 4-6 Conference USA) giving away fouls, not capitalizing on free throws and putting less pressure on Louisiana Tech’s offense/

That lack of pressure included allowing Bulldogs guard Amorie Archibald to end the game with 15 points.

Late in the second half, Louisiana Tech started to play at a higher speed and FAU tried to keep its second-half lead but failed.

“We needed to keep them off the line and off the offensive rebound, but they got a few of those late in the game,” head men’s basketball coach Michael Curry said.

FAU struggled in the first half, spending the majority of it trialing Louisiana Tech. The Owls started to find their rhythm when junior forward Jailyn Ingram began capitalizing on scoring opportunities ending the half with 12 points, the highest amount form both teams.

This gave FAU the lead heading into the second half 28-22.

FAU continued this lead until the last two minutes of the game. Senior center Ronald Delph tried to help the Owls hold on to their lead, acquiring 14 points, 8 rebound and an assist.

“We played aggressive, and Ronald caused a lot of blocks, but no one was there to block the offensive rebound,” Curry said. “Overall. we played good basketball.”

Although FAU lost, it managed to keep Louisiana Tech’s shooting average down. The Bulldogs, who are fifth in CUSA scoring, shot under 40 percent from the field.

The Owls will take on Southern Miss Saturday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. at FAU Arena.

Elyscia Saint-Hilaire is a contributing writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].