Tourney season is here, as the 5th seeded Florida Atlantic Owls will face off against Charlotte in round 2 of the American Athletic conference championship in Fort Worth Texas. The Owls defeated Charlotte twice during the regular season, however the 49ers won their first round game against Rice and look to be rolling with momentum.
Below will be live updates and analysis as the game progresses.
1H First 4-
A back and forth battle developed early on, with FAU taking a more paint centric approach, while Charlotte was having success from beyond the arc. Through the first 7 and a half minutes, FAU had 10 of their 12 points from the paint, while Charlotte had 9 of their 11 from 3 and heading into the U16 with 12:38 to play the Owls had a 12-11 lead, getting 8 points from Matas Vokietaitis.
1H U12 timeout-
Not much changed in the 39 seconds in between timeouts, however FAU has held Charlotte without a point for 2:04 and have forced 3 49er turnovers, and heading into the U12 timeout with 11:59 to play the Owls were holding a 12-11 lead.
1H U8 timeout-
Over the next few minutes, each side continued to trade buckets, however the game slowed down in a major way. After Matas Vokietaitis scored back to back buckets, the second one was the Owls last bucket for nearly 3 minutes, however FAU was holding Charlotte to 37% from the field, while also forcing 5 turnovers which helped them maintain a 20-17 lead going into the U8 with 7:18 to play.
1H U4 timeout-
The defensive battle continued over the next few minutes, as although Baba Miller snapped the scoring drought for FAU with a ferocious tomahawk jam down the lane, Charlotte responded with 5 in a row to cut the deficit to one, 23-22 FAU with 4:40 to play. The Owls snapped their streak with a tough reverse bucket down-low on a drive from Moretti to make it 25-22 FAU heading into the U4 with 3:37 to play.
1H Final 4-
The Owls went on a 4-0 run out of the U4 timeout, getting their first triple of the half from Kyky Tandy to make it 29-22 with 1:12 to play, however Charlotte responded with a 5-0 run of their own, using a little bit of a fracas between the two squads to capitalize and cut the deficit to 2, 29-27 FAU heading into halftime.
Halftime thoughts:
FAU was maintaining a slim lead at halftime, however Charlotte was the one with momentum thanks to a 5-0 run to end the half. FAU forced 7 turnovers which they turned into 10 points which helped them hold a lead, however only one made triple and 54% shooting from the charity stripe has kept Charlotte in this game and now with momentum, FAU will have to find a way to bounce back and prevent the upset.
2H first 4-
Things began in a slow manner for both sides, as through the first 4 and a half minutes FAU went without a made field goal for over 3 and a half minutes and Charlotte was 0 of 4 total. Charlotte was doing a good job at getting to the line however, which kept this one a one possession game heading into the U16 timeout with FAU leading 33-30 with 15:58 to go.
2H U12 timeout-
The back and forth battle continued over the next 4 minutes, however FAU went into the U12 with a bit of momentum, thanks to a mini 6-2 run, where they were able to get out in transition thanks to a turnover and the Owls were finding success down low between Carroll, Miller and Glenn. Heading into the U12 timeout with 11:45 to play FAU was holding a 42-37 lead.
2H U8 timeout-
FAU began to create multiple possession lead in between the U12 and U8, as a 5-0 run behind another Baba jam and Tre Carroll and one gave the Owls a 47-39 lead with 9:56 to play. The timeout slowed things down for FAU, as Charlotte was able to go on a 4-2 run into the U8 timeout, trailing 49-43 with 7:10 to play.