Second half foul trouble cost Florida Atlantic men’s basketball in its 70-62 loss on the road to North Texas Saturday.

After not allowing a single free throw in the first half, the Owls (7-21, 5-10 Conference USA) committed 15 second half fouls, resulting in 17 points off 25 foul shots for the North Texas Mean Green. It took just 5:22 into the half for the Mean Green to get in the bonus — where they then shoot foul shots after every FAU foul.

North Texas (11-16, 6-8 Conference USA) made 45 percent of its shots during the contest — 50 percent from the three — and finished the game by making nine of its final 11 shots.

Down 11 with three minutes left in the game, junior guard Marquan Botley nailed a 3-point shot to start an 8-0 Owls run. However, after another Botley 3-pointer closed the gap to three points with a minute left, FAU was unable to score another field goal and complete the comeback.

The Owls’ inconsistent offensive play also hurt their chances of leaving Texas with a win. After scoring five points in the first 54 seconds of the second half, FAU missed four straight baskets and turned the ball over five times, going scoreless over the next 5:16 of play.

Four Owls scored at least 10 points on the night, led by 14 from redshirt junior Adonis Filer. Botley scored 10 points, but made only two of his 11 field goal attempts.

Junior guard Deckie Johnson and sophomore forward Jeremy Combs led the Mean Green with 19 and 17 points respectively.

With the loss, the Owls finish the season with just two victories out of their 17 games played away from Boca Raton.

FAU will begin its final homestand of the season when it hosts in-state rival Florida International University next Saturday, Feb. 27, at 2 p.m.

Brendan Feeney is the sports editor of the University Press. To contact him regarding this or other stories, he can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @feeney42.