FAU men’s basketball (3-4) played the sixth of their nine-game homestand in the Burrow at Abessinio Court Sunday afternoon, falling 69-65 at the hands of James Madison University (6-2).

After going down 15-7 in the first nine minutes of the game, sophomore guard Bryan Greenlee made three consecutive three-pointers to keep the deficit close. Thanks to that, the Owls got into rhythm as the half went on.

Even as the offense improved, FAU’s defense had trouble disrupting the Dukes’ shooting accuracy. They conceded 14 shots on 23 attempts, good for a shooting percentage of 60.9%.

“[James Madison] made timely shots, came up with a couple offensive rebounds, loose balls turned us over in transition a few times and they just made enough plays to win a hard-fought game,” May said. “We’ve got to defend the three a lot better and just figure out a way to make a few more plays here and there to get over the hump.”

FAU entered halftime down 34-31. Junior guard Michael Forrest led the team in scoring with 10 points. Greenlee and freshman forward Giancarlo Rosado followed with nine and eight points, respectively.

Despite the Owls getting their first lead of 43-41 since the start of the game, James Madison initiated a 16-2 run in a span of six minutes to take control in the second half.

Not going down without a fight, FAU responded with an 18-7 run that featured three straight three-pointers courtesy of Forrest and sophomore guard Alijah Martin to have the score be 64-61 with one minute remaining.

Despite keeping the game close, the Owls couldn’t get the lead back as the Dukes made multiple free-throws to seal away the game.

“We got to play 40 solid minutes and clean up a few things and we’re not far off,” May said. “We’re right there, that’s the beauty of it. We’ve been super competitive, and hopefully we’re learning so many lessons from these close games.”

Forrest finished with a game-high 18 points in spite of shooting 7-18 from the field, including 4-14 from the perimeter. Martin and Rosado had 12 points each while Greenlee contributed with 10 points, four assists, and four rebounds.

For the Dukes, graduate guard Charles Falden was the only player to score in double-digits with 17 points. Besides him, redshirt junior guard Jalen Hodge ended the game with nine points and redshirt freshman forward Justin Amadi had eight points and three rebounds.

The Owls will continue their homestand on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. against Stetson University. The match will be broadcast on C-USA TV.

Richard Pereira is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @Rich26Pereira.