With an 86-79 defeat to the Dayton Flyers (23-10, 12-6 A10), the Florida Atlantic Owls (18-16, 10-8 AAC) season came to an end. They lost in the first round of the National Invitational  Tournament (NIT). 

This is the second appearance in the NIT for the Owls, but their first time hosting a game. Their first appearance was in 2011 when they lost to the Miami Hurricanes 85-62 in the first round. The Owls have faced the Flyers only once before on Dec.15, 2012, which also resulted in a loss. The Flyers are undefeated against the Owls in the two matchups.

“We’re incredibly thankful for the opportunity to play postseason minutes,” head coach John Jakus said. “Nobody else [besides Leland Walker and Nico Moretti] on our team had any postseason experience. So, this was incredibly important for us and our players.”

Jakus went on to talk about the overall season and their experience.

“Our expectations are higher than this,” Jakus said. “But, in year one, nobody’s ever won 18 games and if you look at the history of the school, the two hardest schedules in the history of the school were Dusty’s last year and our’s this year. And so, not only has nobody ever done it [win 18 games in their first season] before, but we did it with the second hardest schedule.” 

In the end, four Owls scored 14 points or more. Guard Kaleb Glenn led with 18 points and made the most three point shots for the team with three. 

Ultimately, the Owls weren’t able to defend the three-point line. This allowed Flyers guard Javon Bennett to score a career high 30 points with a career high eight made three-point shots. 

The Flyers won the opening tip and quickly scored with a three-point shot by guard Enoch Cheeks. Glenn answered right back with a contested layup for the Owls. After another score from the Flyers, the game became a back-and-forth battle. 

Forward Baba Miller swung the lead to the Owls after a steal and breakaway slam gave them the first lead 6-5 with 18 minutes remaining in the first half. This highlight play caused the Elly to erupt in cheers.

The beginning of this game would be filled with highlight plays like the one before. An alley-oop here from the Owls and a fastbreak score there from the Flyers. Each highlight play was replaced by the next. If you were in the seats, you would not be able to hear anything else besides the noise from the fans.

Halfway through the first half, the Owls had a 22-20 lead over the Flyers. However, forward Jacob Conner silenced the Owls home crowd with a monster dunk over FAU’s center Matas Vokietaitis and forward Tre Carroll. A potential momentum killer for the Owls.

Vokietaitis and Miller added highlight dunks of their own right after to rejuvenate the crowd. Vokietaitis dunked over a Flyers defender while Miller landed a reverse dunk. 

After the prolonged back-and-forth, the Flyers finally took control for a 9-0 run to take the lead back 37-33. The Owls missed multiple shot attempts and also committed two turnovers during this stretch. 

Glenn was the man to break the Flyers run with a wing three and two free throws. The Owls claimed the lead once again. But then, Cheeks made the driving layup to flip the lead back on Dayton’s side. 

Before the half ended, the Flyers were able to establish a 44-38 lead with another score from Cheeks, and three free throws made from guard Malachi Smith. The Owls couldn’t finish against the Flyers defenders at the rim resulting in a scoreless two minutes to end the half.

The Owls had two players in double digits. Glenn led the team with 12 points and Vokietaitis was not far behind with 10. The Owls also produced six total turnovers compared to the Flyers two.

Cheeks led the Flyers in points with nine, and he made multiple plays toward the end of the half to help the Flyers extend their lead. Although the team did not have any players score above double digits, they had eight players score with seven of them having five or more.

The first two minutes of the second half contrasted the beginning of the game with its scoreless stretch. FAU’s Miller ended the drought with a layup with around 18 minutes remaining. The Flyers proceeded to go on an 8-2 run with guard Javon Bennett making two three pointers during this stretch. 

Coming out of an Owls timeout, Carroll made an elbow jumper to get the Owls back on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for the Owls, the Flyers continued their onslaught with another 7-0 run to make the score 59-44. For every score the Owls made, the Flyers scored three times back.

The Flyers took full control of the game and continued to rain down the three point shots to flirt with a 20 point lead with 11:10 remaining in the game. The Owls tried to make a comeback shortly after with a 10-2 run, but the Flyers held their ground and went on another themselves.

With 5:24 remaining in the game, the Owls started their second comeback attempt. As the shots started to fall for the Owls, the deficit started to diminish. Once again, however, the Flyers were able to hold their lead. 

As the seconds ticked down to zero, the Owls season ended with an 86-79 loss. 

Morgan Larkins is a Staff Writer for the University Press. Email him at mlarkins2023@fau.edu or DM him on Instagram or Twitter @mj_larkins for more information regarding this or other stories.