With FAU battling to qualify for the Conference USA tournament, Gerdarius Troutman continued his breakout season with 25 points and snapped the Owls’ three-game losing streak on Saturday night in a 94-82 win over Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
Less than 48 hours after a blowout loss to Louisiana Tech, Troutman made seven of nine threes to give FAU (9-16, 5-9) their first win in 14 days. Troutman’s success against the Eagles (8-19, 5-10) wasn’t limited to his long-range shooting, as the junior also added three rebounds.
Even with Southern Miss guard Cortez Edwards leading all scorers with 26 points, Michael Curry’s Owls still led for over 35 minutes. It wasn’t until the start of the second half FAU began to pull away.
FAU’s bench outscored Southern Miss by a 50-21 margin.
With the win, FAU moves half a game ahead of Southern Miss in the C-USA standings, in 11th place. The top 12 teams qualify for the C-USA tournament. FAU holds three more conference wins than FIU and North Texas. The Owls have four games remaining in the regular season.
With their ninth win of the season, the Owls have already surpassed their total of eight from last year and ties them for the most wins in the three-year tenure of coach Michael Curry.
GameBrowser: FAU (9-16, 5-9) 94, Southern Miss (8-19, 5-10) 82
Moving Forward: Troutman was one of five Owls to hit double-digits, with Adonis Filer (17), Justin Massey (14), Ronald Delph (13), and Nick Rutherford (10) joining him. …Delph added seven rebounds as well. …FAU had 19 assists to Southern Miss’ 13. …The Owls only had five turnovers.
Moving Backward: FAU was out-rebounded 31-29.
Key Stat: 68.2 percent: FAU’s shooting percentage from behind the three-point arc (15-of-22).
Up Next: FAU will return to The Burrow for their final homestand of the year. Thursday night brings UTEP to town. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
Leave a Reply