The Owls played their first postseason game in six years on Thursday, but their 68-66 defeat to Charleston Southern in the first round of the CIT brought their rare championship chase to a close.  

FAU fell behind the Buccaneers early and trailed by as much as ten points in the first half, but they crawled back in the second.

After being down 30-20, the Owls cut the Charleston Southern lead down to 34-30 at the half. And it was a hard-fought battle between the two teams from there.

The two teams kept trading baskets, the Owls gaining a 49-44 point advantage midway through the second half, but the Buccaneers took the lead back with nine minutes to go and never gave it back.

The Owls kept it close, but it wasn’t enough to give them the win.

Anthony Adger lead the Owls in scoring with 17 points, adding two rebounds, Xavian Stapleton dropped 14 points and five rebounds, and Michael Forrest scored 15 points of his own to go along with six assists.

This loss ended the Owls’ best season since 2011, first-year coach Dusty May leading FAU to its first winning season and postseason appearance since then.

Colby Guy is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @thatguycolbs