Florida Atlantic men’s basketball fell to Middle Tennessee State University 93-59 Saturday night in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and will be the 11th seed in the conference tournament which is set to begin next week.

FAU (10-19, 6-12 Conference USA) shot 34 percent from the field for the game, and was just 1-for-13 from three-point land. Sophomore Jeantal Cylla was the lone Owl to knock a 3-pointer, and led the team with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

FAU started the game by taking an early 17-10 lead over Middle Tennessee (27-4, 17-1 Conference USA), but the Blue Raiders went on an ensuing 21-4 run between 11:15 and 4:20, to take a double-digit advantage. The Owls would fall behind by as many as 13 points, but headed into halftime down 44-36.

The Owls would score the first four points of the second half, but Middle Tennessee went on 23-3 run between the 18:55 and 11:24 marks. FAU was outscored 49-23 in the second 20-minute period and allowed the Blue Raiders to shoot 64.3 percent from the field in the half.

For the game, Middle Tennessee shot 54 percent from the field. Junior Giddy Potts led all scorers with 33 points on 12-of-18 shooting.

The Owls will play Marshall University in the first round of the Conference USA tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Marshall defeated FAU 89-72 on Jan. 2 in Boca Raton.

Times of the conference tournament games are to be determined.

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_.