Owls open conference play, win over UTSA 79-64

In the win, four Owls scored in double digits.

Jailyn+Ingram+played+with+almost+no+limitations+after+his+season+ending+injury+last+year.+He+played+30+minutes+and+scored+15+points+in+the+win+against+UTSA.+Photo+by%3A+Alex+Liscio.+

Jailyn Ingram played with almost no limitations after his season ending injury last year. He played 30 minutes and scored 15 points in the win against UTSA. Photo by: Alex Liscio.

Zachary Weinberger, Sports Editor

In their first conference game of the season, the FAU men’s basketball team beat the UTSA Roadrunners, 79-64. 

 

The Owls were hot in December with a record of 5-2 — so entering the new decade, they wanted to keep the momentum against the Roadrunners. 

 

In the first seven minutes of the game, FAU got off to an early 21-10 lead.

 

While the Owls looked like they couldn’t be stopped, they went into a scoring drought in the last couple of minutes of the first half. Their lead diminished to just nine points at halftime. 

 

However, FAU got back on track in the second half. Defensively, the Owls forced UTSA at point to not score for eight and a half minutes. 

 

The offensive struggles from the Roadrunners came from their lead scorer, Jhivvan Jackson, only compiling eight points in 31 minutes. Coming into the game, he averaged more than 20 points per game, but only made three out of his 18 shots. 

 

While it was mostly a team win for the Owls, the highlight of the game was junior forward Jailyn Ingram. He racked up 15 points to go along with four rebounds.

 

Ingram played 30 minutes, the most out of everybody, which is a major improvement in his injury recovery process after he tore his ACL last season. 

 

“His timing is getting better and he’s gradually progressing and surpassing the player he was when he got hurt last year and I expect him to get a little bit better each week,” FAU men’s basketball head coach Dusty May said.

 

Other than Ingram, a lot of the efficiency on offense came from Everett Winchester, Jaylen Sebree and Michael Forrest, each of them scoring in double digits. 

 

The Owls are now 14 games into the season and conference play now in full swing.

 

“There is so much to improve on,” May said. “The thing that jumps out is that killer mindset that when you do get a lead, you don’t let your attention span wonder, you don’t lose focus and concentration and you focus on winning the next possession. But that would be the only thing: just being able to play with the aggression more consistently.”

 

Up next, the Owls will face the University of Texas at El Paso on Saturday Jan. 4 at RoofClaim.com Arena in Boca Raton.