Basketball in paradise resumed on Thursday evening, and it brought a rejuvenated Owls team along with it. Backed by a Sandstorm and 2 20-point performances from Alijah Martin and Vlad Goldin, FAU defeated conference foe SMU 80-70.
“We are extremely proud of our effort tonight against a really sound, physical program that we have a ton of respect for Coach Lanier and the way they go about it and play the game. I thought our guys were able to match the physicality. For us to have the rebounding edge that we did and generate more shots like we were able to do is a testament to our guys’ determination. They had the focused look that we had been missing a little bit of lately, so it was nice to have that back,” Coach Dusty may said after the game,
FAU came out of the gates with a sense of urgency, as Vlad Goldin and Johnell Davis both started off with Dunks, and FAU forced a quick turnover to jump out to a quick 4-0 lead. The Owls looked to get Vlad going early, as within the first 3 minutes he was 2 of 4 with 4 points and had 4 of the first 5 FAU attempts.
Nick Boyd helped the Owls offense keep pace, as he scored 6 straight and with 14:08 to play FAU led 12-11. The first 8 or so minutes of this game was a back-and-forth battle, with 5 total lead changes and both teams hovering around 50% from the field.
SMU grabbed a hold of momentum thanks to a 9-0 run over a 2-and-a-half-minute stretch, and with 11 minutes to play led 20-14 off a three from Emory Lanier.
That streak was snapped with 10:39 to play on a difficult reverse layup from Brandon Weatherspoon, and that got the Owls going in the paint. Their next 4 attempts all came from down low, including 2 shots from Vlad, and all of a sudden FAU was instituting a physical first half of basketball.
That Physicality was on full display with 7:51 to play in the first half, as Alijah Martin elevated from the paint and put his SMU defender on a poster and converted a 3-point play to make it 27-26 Owls. After the game Martin gave his thoughts on that highlight reel play.
“I was just thinking, go dunk it. I’ve been mad at myself all year for taking these finger role layups around the rim when I can play above it. Credit Johnell, he made the extra pass for me to get downhill.” Martin said.
The teams continued to trade blows, and FAU continued to be a force in the paint. FAU scored 20 straight points in the paint following the 15-minute mark, and everyone was getting in on the action. 7 Owls scored in the paint during the first half, but the only Owl hit from Deep was Nick Boyd. His second triple of the half gave him 9 and put the Owls up 38-33 with just under 3 minutes to play.
Rosado added an exclamation point to end the first half, as he converted an and-1 next to the basket to put FAU up 41-37, which was the score going into the break. FAU was only up 4 going into the break, and momentum was rocking back and forth, after the game Coach Dusty May explained what his message to the team at halftime was.
“We thought we forced some tough shots that they made; they consistently made tough shots. We had a dilemma, do we change our coverage or do we stay the course. We chose to stay the course for the first 4 minutes,” Coach May said.
FAU started out the second half with the same intensity they had during the 1st half, as they started with 5 straight points thanks to a triple from Alijah and 2 free throws from Vlad. That jumped the lead to 9, which was a lead the Owls held and built on throughout the early parts of the second half.
Alijah Martin kept his strong play going throughout this one, he had 7 second half points through the first 7 minutes, and his jumper with 14:57 to play made it 55-44 FAU which was the Owl’s first double digit lead of the game.
FAU scored 2 more to go up 13 before SMU went on a little bit of a run. The Mustangs scored 7 in a row to bring it within 6, 57-51, but FAU had an answer. The hot hand all game was Alijah Martin, and he came out of the 16-minute media timeout and drilled a triple to put FAU back up 9, 60-51 with 11:26 to play and helped the Owls rangle in momentum. Martin has been on a bit of a heater since the overtime period against Wichita state, and after the game he talked about what has been working for him.
“Just letting the game come to me. Not relying on the 3 ball to fall, and getting to the rim and free throw line. Credit to my teammates and coaches,” Martin said humbly after the game.
It was the Vlad and Alijah show during periods down the stretch in the second half, as Alijah hit a few triples while Vlad dominated the paint. Goldin scored 5 of 7 during a stretch for FAU and his layup with 7:03 to play put the Owls back up double digits, 69-58.
A few possessions later, Brandon Weatherspoon hit a triple from the right wing which set the Elly ablaze and put the Owls up 72-59 with 6:12 to play, tying their largest lead of the game.
FAU played strong defense over the next few minutes, bending and letting SMU cut the lead to 7, but not breaking. Vlad Goldin was a menace all game in the paint and did a great job at drawing fouls, he hit 4 straight free throws during a stretch over the final 2 minutes, and the second pair put FAU up 79-70 with 1:22 to play. This game marked 3 straight 20-point performances for Goldin, and after the game Coach may gave his thoughts on his success.
“He’s doing it in a number of ways. Him getting deeper and is trying to find different ways to camouflage what we do. We didn’t get him the ball enough, but I thought Gaffney did a nice job on finding him on some angles. He probably had 2 or 3 that just didn’t drop, where he was able to generate fouls. His physicality, his hands, and touch are disgusting for a 7’0 player, we just try to find different ways to use him,” Coach May said after the game.
Jalen Gaffney hit one more free throw with 10 seconds left, and the Owls closed the door on their conference rival, defeating SMU in the Sandstorm 80-70.
It was a huge win for FAU to right the ship following the tough loss to USF, and a game the Owls can look back on with a lot of pride. The Owls won’t be able to do too much reminiscing, as a road matchup with Memphis looms large on Sunday. Although the media views this one as a big matchup, Alijah Martin says it’s just another game on the docket for FAU.
“It’s just another game. Credit to Memphis, we can’t go into Memphis to hyped up, or too down. We have to stay even killed and fight to get the win,” Martin said.
FAU takes on Memphis at 2 PM est on Sunday, and Owls fans can tune in on Flagship ESPN. Ken Pom predicts a 2-point FAU victory, 81-79.
