fau nick rutherford

Downhill Slide

BOCA RATON — FAU ended its final game of the 2016 calendar year they opened it: with a blowout loss to open Conference USA play.

Three days after a home loss to Florida Gulf Coast that coach Michael Curry called “disappointing,” the Owls began conference play with a 69-54 loss to Pancake Thomas and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

Poor shot selection plagued the Owls on Saturday afternoon as the team shot a dismal 18-of-56 from the field; only two of their 15 three-point attempts – a combined nine of which came from Justin Massey and Gerdarius Troutman – went in. Entering the second half down 33-31, FAU was outscored 36-23 in the second half.

After briefly taking a 41-40 lead with 14 minutes left in the game, FAU stumbled to the finish and was outscored 28-14.

“[The second half] was the same thing as the first half: we didn’t make any shots,” Curry said.

Once 2-3 after home wins against both Edward Waters and the University of South Florida, FAU has fallen to 4-8. The Owls are now 1-3 since making national news with a 79-77 overtime upset over Ohio State in Columbus on December 6.

“We gotta come back out here tomorrow and be ready to work and be ready to play a totally different game,” Curry said. “It’s still the same: you gotta do a good job of limiting – and we’ve done a pretty good job since I’ve been here – of limiting their scorers.”

Western Kentucky has slowly begun making Boca Raton a second home, blowing out the Owls football team 52-3 in October and winning the Boca Bowl over Memphis on December 20.

Saturday, the Hilltoppers seemed perfectly comfortable in the Burrow with many of their fans traveling as a pack to cheer them on.

Four Hilltoppers scored in double-digits, with Que Johnson and Jabari McGhee both leading the way with 13 points. Thomas, a transfer from the University of Hartford, had 11 points and five assists.

“We held their top three scorers to 31 points and if you say that before the game and ask would you win the game, I’d say ‘yeah, we’ll win the game,’” Curry said.

Adonis Filer led all scorers with 16 points in 27 minutes.

GameBrowser: WKU 69, FAU 54

Moving Forward: FAU avoided turnovers as best it could, only giving the ball away eight times as opposed to Western Kentucky’s 11…Adonis Filer made all eight of his free throws and the team as a whole shot 16-20…Nick Rutherford grabbed eight rebounds.

Moving Backward: FAU entered the second half of a game trailing yet again, this time by a 33-31 score; the Owls have led at halftime once since taking a 38-31 lead after 20 minutes against Tennessee-Martin. …Frank Booker only played two minutes…Nick Rutherford was 2-10 shooting. …WKU out-rebounded FAU 50-29.

Key Stat: 21- percent shooting from the field for FAU in the second half.

Up Next: In the fourth game of this five game homestand, the Marshall Thundering Herd come to town for a Monday night showdown with the Owls. Tip-off is currently slated for 7 p.m.

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