After two Adonis Filer free-throws with 1:05 remaining forced overtime, Florida Atlantic men’s basketball seemed to run out of gas in the overtime period and fell to Rice University 81-75 on Saturday night in Boca Raton.

The final 14 minutes of the regulation was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams exchanging buckets and the lead. The game would find itself tied at 67 heading into the final minute of the fourth quarter.

After sophomore guard Marcus Evans missed the go-ahead shot for Rice (17-8, 7-5 Conference USA), Filer was able to grab the rebound and race down court, but missed the potential game winner, forcing the game into overtime.

Rice sophomore Marcus Evans scored 23 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and overtime. With the game knotted at 75 and 33 seconds left in the overtime period, Evans was able to grab a rebound off his own miss and make the layup to give Rice the lead for good.

The Owls (8-15, 4-8 Conference USA) shot 3-for-9 from the field in the extra period, including 1-for-5 from three-point land. FAU shot 36.8 percent overall in the game and made just eight of their 28 three-point attempts.

“The other night [versus North Texas, we shot] too many threes,” said head coach Michael Curry. “I was careful not to say to them ‘hey that’s too many threes’ and have them shy coming in tonight. We just showed them the type of threes we wanted and that’s penetration and kicking it back out.”

Filer led the Owls with 18 points off the bench on 5-of-14 shooting, followed by junior Gerdarius Troutman’s 16 points.

Rice junior Egor Koulechov started the game by scoring nine of his team’s first 17 points — all three of his field goals were 3-pointers. He outscored the Owls 9-6 in the first five minutes of the game.

However, FAU would go on a 23-2 run to take a 29-19 lead, while holding Rice scoreless for more than seven minutes of game time. Junior Marcus Jackson broke his team’s scoring drought with a 3-pointer.

Despite taking that double-digit lead, Rice would end the quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 39-35 heading into the locker room. Sophomore Marcus Evans knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to close out the half.

FAU shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, getting a huge boost from its bench. Filer had 11 of the bench’s 19 first half points, going 3-for-5 from the field.

Evans began the second half by scoring 10 of his team’s first 16 second-half points as they surged back to retake a 49-48 lead six minutes into the half.

Rice shot 40 percent from the field, and shot 31 free throws for the game compared to FAU‘s 19 attempts. The Houston-based Owls made 24 of their attempts.

“We came out and competed, which is a great sign of growth,” Curry said. “If [we] continue to learn and get better after losses like these, [we’ll] turn it around.”

FAU will travel to Ruston, Louisiana to face Louisiana Tech University on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m.

Hans Belot Jr. is the sports editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him at @Don_Phenom_.