Florida Atlantic’s men’s basketball had their first game of the four-day Charleston Classic tournament on Nov. 21. The Owls (4-2) had a second-half comeback to defeat the Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-1) 86-78. 

With the win, the Owls advance to the semifinals and will play Drake University (4-0) on Nov. 22 at 11:30 a.m. Drake is coming off an 80-69 win over the University of Miami (3-1). 

The defensive intensity was at an all-time high during the game with 57 total fouls from both teams for 81 total free throws. FAU shot 71.4% from the free throw line and OKST shot 68.8%. Both teams had 15 turnovers on the night. 

“Honestly I don’t know that anybody guarded us with pressure as good as Oak State… The first half for sure, we were frustrated with the turnovers. The second half we only had four turnovers,” said head coach John Jakus. “I thought we kind of learned how to take care of the ball. We needed simpler actions, simpler sets just to be solid and the guys did a good job of making that adjustment.”

The Owls held OKST to 34.2% from the field and 23.1% beyond the arc, which is an improvement from the 44.3 FG% and 38.6 3PT% they’ve allowed their opponents to shoot on the season. FAU shot 42.3% in FGs and 30.4% beyond the arc. 

Jakus said that defense has been their largest adjustment over the past few days, “That’s a big step forward for our group”

“We had to fight to get to 86, we didn’t do it in the way we normally did but getting in the double bonus with 14 to go and then our guys’ maturity to drive instead of settling for jumpers. Then that one corner three by my guy KyKy Tandy really was a difference maker,” said Jakus. 

Tandy led the Owls in scoring with 21 points and shot 50% from the field. He put away a three in the final minutes that pushed the Owls to an 11-1 scoring run. 

“My coaches and teammates believe in me and they want me to shoot if it’s open, so if I’m open I’m going to shoot the shot,” said Tandy. “It was going in tonight so I’m just thankful that it went in and we got this dub.”

FAU will rest tonight and prepare for a fast turnaround game against Drake tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.

Recap

OKST won the tipoff and FAU forward Baba Miller blocked the opening Cowboy shot. The Owls passed around and found Tandy, who shot from behind the arc, putting down the first score of the game 3-0. Miller then was handed the ball and got a three of his own.

OKST forward Marchelus Avery dribbled under the net and dunked over Miller for OKST’s first score, 7-2. FAU was on a 2:59 field goal drought and OKST’s guard Davonte Davis made a 3-pointer off a turnover from Miller. 

The Owls scoring drought was ended after forward Tre Carroll lobbed up a pass to center Matas Vokietaitis who easily jumped up for the two from under the basket, 10-5 Owls. Turnovers started to become an issue as FAU had five in just over four minutes and OKST slowly cut down the lead, 11-10.

Carroll got his first score of the game with a quick layup. The Cowboys went down the court, drew the foul and made both layups, 13-12. Then forward Abou Ousmane pushed through the paint and took OKST’s first lead of the game, 14-13. 

A Class A technical foul was administered to FAU’s bench after words were exchanged to the refs, it was unclear exactly what was said, and the Cowboys used that to make both free throws and forward Robert Jennings II made a two-point jumper, 21-16. Carroll answered their run by making a three, but OKST turned on their offense and made all four of their last shots, 24-19. 

OKST hit their third turnover of the game after guard Jamyron Keller traveled, and Miller was left wide open from the wing but he wasn’t able to capitalize. OKST grabbed the rebound and pushed down the court for a fast three, 30-25. 

Avery downed a three, going on a 9-0 scoring run and extending their lead 35-25, 4:59 to go. FAU called a timeout as they had been on a 2:49 scoring drought. Guard Ken Evans Jr. passed quickly to Tandy who ended the drought and put the Owls back on the board, 35-28. 

Miller threw it up to Vokietaitis who got the 2-pointer, then followed it up by dunking a shot that Tandy tried to get it off the backboard. 37-32. Forward Kaleb Glenn drove hard inside the paint and was fouled by OKST guard Khalil Brantley, but Glenn missed both of the free throws. 

Both teams were in the double bonus with 44.9 seconds to go in the first, and Walker put down two free throws to keep OKST’s lead by five. OKST’s guard Brandon Newman airballed a three and Walker drove down in the paint and attempted a layup that was no good, which ended the first half, 39-34. 

At halftime, the Owls were outshooting OKST 48% to 33% from the field and 50% to 33% beyond the arc. The difference came from turnovers with FAU having 11 to OKST’s six. 

Entering the second half, the Cowboys had two turnovers in the first minute of play. Jennings II went up for a layup and Vokietatis came from behind and blocked the ball out of bounds. On the next play, Jennings II stole the ball and ran down the open court for an easy dunk 41-34. 

The Owls began to slowly bring OKST’s lead down, guard Niccolo Moretti cut it down to six after making two free throws 54-49 with 12:41 to go. The Cowboys continued to put away shots, making five of seven of their last FGs, while FAU hadn’t made a FG in 2:27, their only four points coming from free throws.

Walker was sent to the line and made both of them 56-54. Carroll went to the line after, making both and tying the game 56-56. Walker ran into trouble under the net and passed it out to Miller who made the step back two 58-58.

This time it was OKST’s turn for a scoring drought, as they had no field goals for 3:55 until they made a layup 61-58. Glenn was sent to the line again and made one to tie the game 61-61, 7:34. Each team was struggling to put down shots, OKST shooting 33% and FAU 40%. 

OKST began to find their rhythm again and made two jumpers, 65-61. The teams exchanged missed shots and Walker then made a layup off a fast break, 67-67. Then, he was fouled and made one of the free throws to bring the Owls their first lead since 16-14. 

Intensity was high from both sides on defense and with 3:40 left, both were in the double bonus. Next at the line was Evans Jr. and he made both 72-68. It had been six minutes without a FG for the Cowboys and four minutes without one for FAU. An offensive foul was called on Newman after he pushed Miller out of the way when driving in the paint. 

Evans Jr. found Tandy beyond the arc who put it away, 75-68. The Owls went on an 11-1 run over 2:34. Walker was fouled in the paint, marking the 52nd foul of the night, he made both and extended FAU’s lead to eight. 

OKST stole the ball from Walker and Newman got an easy layup, 77-71. Then, Evans Jr. drove down into the paint, making the layup and drawing a foul. With a minute to go, the Cowboys turned the ball over and were forced to foul Evans Jr. in order to try and crawl back into the game, 81-71. 

The Cowboys guard Arturo Dean missed a three but Davis was right there to snag the rebound and put it in, 81-73. Davis then made a three from the left wing but FAU’s Glenn got wide open and Moretti passed to him who dunked and sealed the Owls’ 86-78 win. 

Megan Bruinsma is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories email her at mbruinsma2022@fau.edu or DM her on Instagram @megan_bruinsma or X (Twitter) @MeganBruinsma.