Florida Atlantic men’s basketball was unable to get enough shots to fall in the first half versus Marshall University, resulting in a 89-74 loss Wednesday night in Birmingham, Alabama to end its season.

The Owls (10-20, 6-12) shooting troubles began after they knocked down four of their first six shots from the field, as they would go just 8-for-26 during the remainder of the half. The tough shooting allowed the Thundering Herd (18-14, 10-8) to outscore the Owls 43-20 in the final 15:28 of the period.

In the second half, the Owls would use a 12-0 run to cut the Thundering Herd lead to 74-60 with 7:36 left, but that was as close as FAU ever came. Marshall went on an ensuing 12-4 run and pushed the lead back to 22.

FAU shot 37 percent from the field for the game, including 7-of-18 from three-point land. Sophomore Justin Massey came off the bench to lead FAU with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

Marshall shot 50 percent in the first half and made eight 3-pointers. It finished the game knocking down 43 percent of its shots.

Senior Stevie Browning led the Thundering Herd with 22 points.

Marshall advances to face Old Dominion in the second round.

FAU has not won a conference tournament since the 2001-02 season, when it was in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

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_.