No. 15 FAU cruises to wire-to-wire win over FIU

Field Level Media|published: Wed 13th December, 21:22 2023

Dec 5, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Florida Atlantic Owls head coach Dusty May coaches against the Illinois Fighting Illini during the first half at Madison Square Garden. credits: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Johnell Davis produced 16 points and four steals while leading No. 15 Florida Atlantic to a wire-to-wire, 94-60 win over Florida International on Wednesday in Boca Raton, Fla.

The Owls (8-2) won for the seventh straight time over the Panthers (3-8), who had an 10-day break since beating Long Island University. Florida Atlantic led by as much as 25 points in the first half and 37 in the second.

The dominating victory closed the nonconference home schedule for Florida Atlantic.

Davis sank 6 of 9 shots. Alijah Martin totaled 14 points and three steals for the Owls, while Vladislav Goldin had nine points and nine rebounds.

Florida Atlantic's Brandon Weatherspoon lit it up from deep to start the second half and scored 12 points. Bryan Greenlee added 12 points for the Owls, who shot 64.3 percent (36-for-56) from the floor.

The hosts team made half of their 22 3-point attempts.

Meanwhile, Florida International received a hot-shooting showing from junior Jaidon Lipscomb, who notched a career-high 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting from 3-point range. The transfer from Lakeland Community College in Ohio hadn't scored more than eight points in a game for the Panthers.

Javaunte Hawkins produced 12 points for Florida International, which made just 35.9 percent (23-for-64) of its shots.

The Panthers, who were outrebounded 43-27, saw their advantage in the rivalry slip to 28-26.

In the first half, the former Conference USA foes showed the rust of not playing for more than a week, but the Owls used a balanced scoring attack to build a 12-2 edge in the first 5:48 by way of four Panthers turnovers.

Florida Atlantic's most glaring problem in the first half was cold shooting from the stripe: The squad missed its first six free throws, preventing the Owls from padding a double-digit lead.

Over the half's final 10 minutes, coach Dusty May's group outscored Florida International 25-15 and took a 43-20 lead into the locker room.

Despite getting nine points from Hawkins, the turnovers persisted for the Panthers, who committed 10 before the break while shooting only 8-for-29 (27.6 percent).

Weatherspoon poured it on in the first 85 seconds of the second half, draining a trio of treys for a 52-20 lead.

—Field Level Media

Latest