The FAU Owls (3-2) narrowly escaped with a 79-77 win on the road against the UNF Ospreys (0-6). After dropping the first two games of the season, FAU has bounced back to win three straight games.

Headed home to South Florida with the 𝗪#WinningInParadise pic.twitter.com/1ch1KekK1T

— FAU Men’s Basketball (@FAUMBB) December 8, 2020

Big man Karlis Silins led the way for FAU with 19 points. Silins made his presence known early, scoring the game’s first points and finishing the first half with 10 points.

Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, but UNF kept shooting themselves in the foot with turnovers and foul trouble. They finished the first half with nine turnovers and eight fouls leading to nine FAU points off 12 free throws.

The Owls led by as much as 12 points in the first half before UNF cut the lead down to two to end the first half. 

Outside of Silins, FAU received a nice boost from guard Michael Forrest, who scored 12 points off the bench, and forward Jailyn Ingram, who had a 13 point, 10 rebound double-double.

Guards Bryan Greenlee and Kenan Blackshear also chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

FAU had a hard time containing the trio of guards Jose Placer, Emmanuel Adedoyin, and forward Dorian James, all of whom scored in double digits and shot over 60% from the field. 

Placer had the most impressive performance scoring a game-high 20 points.

UNF had a chance to win the game with a go-ahead three-pointer but came up short after an airball by guard Ryan Burkhardt.

The Owls will travel to the Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina to play the NC State Wolfpack, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. It will be broadcast on ACCNX.

Trey Avant is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @TreyAvant3.