Florida Atlantic men’s basketball (2-0) put on a dominating performance in their first 2024-25 regular season home game. They defeated the College of Coastal Georgia Mariners 99-49 and the game counted toward FAU’s record but was an exhibition game for CCGA.
They had a slow start as FAU led 17-11 with 10 minutes left in the half. That marked the turning point for the Owls and got their offensive switch going, shooting 34 more points before halftime.
“We started picking up full court and then you start one of eight from three and you overreact a little. Then you make it your next time and everybody’s fine,” said head coach John Jakus. “So making shots helped, but I thought there was a section there where we went to the bench…I thought they got us going.”
Owls guard Ken Evans Jr. and forward Kaleb Glenn led the team in with 18 points each. Forward Tre Carroll had 14 points under his belt and led with nine rebounds.
FAU had full support from their fans, their student section almost entirely full. The energy remained at a high for the entirety of the game as noise ricocheted through the arena.
“I want to say, thanks for being here, thanks for coming tonight,” said Jakus. “First home game obviously felt good to get that out of the system and to have a student section that, from my impression, was sold out, something we were really proud of. So we’re just going to try and keep this thing going.”
Florida Atlantic will head to Orlando, Fla. on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. to play the University of Central Florida (2-0). The game can be streamed on ESPN+. The Owls can expect a tougher level of competition as UCF defeated No. 13 Texas A&M University (1-1).
“UCF is a very big team. They got some big guards so one through five has to hit, but this is a great testament, builds our confidence for games like this. We got to come into practice and just get ready to be better,” said Carroll.
Recap
The Owls won the tipoff and forward Baba Miller attempted a 3-pointer that was no good. Center Matas Vokietaitis reacted quickly, gathering the rebound before being fouled on his landing. He made both free throws for the first score of the game, 2-0.
After a few missed shots by both teams Vokietaitis showed his 7-foot-1-inch reach and easily blocked Coastal Georgia’s guard Thaddeus Burns. Miller stepped into CCGA’s passing lane and stole the ball but the Owls couldn’t capitalize and turned the ball over.
Coastal Georgia’s guard Kaden McArthur put them on the board with a fast layup inside the paint, 2-2. Following that, Owls’ Evans Jr. banked the first three of the game, causing the home crowd to erupt, 17:10 left in the first.
“I was just feeding off the energy of the crowd…[It was] a packed out arena. I was excited to play in front of the court and my teammates just kept finding me time after time,” said Evans Jr.
Two minutes later, CCGA’s McArthur squeezed through Vokietaitis and Miller for an underhand layup, 5-4. Off a fast break, Burns put down a three of his own to give the Mariners a 2-point lead.
The Owls called their first timeout with 15 minutes to go. They were shooting 13% from the field and 20% from beyond the arc.
Out of the timeout, FAU began to turn around the momentum. Guard Leland Walker faked a hard drive to the rim, spun under the net and found Carroll who easily lobbed in the layup, 7-7. Coastal Georgia came right back with a layup of their own to gain the lead again.
Evans Jr. made back-to-back three’s before CCGA ended the 6-0 run with two free throws. Glenn was sent to the free throw line for FAU, making the first and missing the second. Miller came down with the rebound and found wide open guard Kyky Tandy who made the three from the left wing, sparking the start of FAU’s offensive domination.
For the next two minutes, the teams exchanged buckets and Miller was fouled while shooting a layup. He made both of the free throws 22-15 and jump started the Owls’ 11-0 run. Leading the run was Carroll who made three 2-pointers in a row and on his third with 5:56 to go the crowd began to go wild.
CCGA’s forward Valdy Zephir ended the run with a step-back two inside the paint, 33-17. The ball got placed back in Carroll’s hands who stepped beyond the arc and finished it.
FAU began to quicken their pace of play and cleaned up their passes and shots in the final five minutes. Evans Jr. raced to reach the ball that was headed out of bounds, he secured it and threw it behind his back to Walker, who with no hesitation went for the three and made it, 41-19.
Over the last 2:40 minutes, the Owls went on a 13-1 run. With the clock dwindling down, Walker dribbled at the guard position until four seconds were left and he pulled inside to make the 2-pointer, ending the first half with a score of 51-20.
The Owls turned their shot precision around and at halftime were shooting 46.8% in field-goals and 38.1% beyond the arc. The Mariners averaged 37.5% in field-goals and 31.3% beyond the arc.
Entering the second half, Vokietaitis came right out of the gate with a powerful dunk. After a made three from Tandy, Vokietaitis got a fast pass from Evans Jr. and sealed it with another dunk, 60-23.
The Mariners ended the scoring drought with forward D’ontaye Strawter drawing in the paint for a layup, 60-25. But, FAU continued to pound away at the score and Carroll rebounded mid air and threw it into the hoop.
After another stretch of exchanging made shots, FAU’s Glenn completed a long cross court pass to Tandy who made the three out of the left wing, 74-33 with 11:54 to go.
Both teams began to play sloppily again, with self-made turnovers like dribbling and hitting the ball off their foot out of bounds.
Evans Jr. got a quick pass from Walker and made the jumper three, 78-33. He followed it up with another one marking his sixth of the night and 18 points total with 9:08 left in the game. They got the ball to Evans Jr. again but he missed and Walker fouled at the other end of the court.
Carroll missed a layup but guard Devin Vanterpool was right there to catch the ball and put it in himself. Guard Niccolo Moretti then drove through the paint and found Glenn in a cross court play, he got the layup 87-36 with 6:07 left. In the last 2:12 FAU went on a 7-0 run.
FAU’s run was ended after CCGA’s guard Amaru Grosvenor made one of two free throws, 88-37. Following that, forward Max Langenfeld had his first points of the night. He debated passing the ball away but ended up shooting the three for himself 91-37.
Grosvenor continued to fight back for CCGA and made a three out of the right wing, 4:27 left to go. But, the efforts weren’t enough to fight FAU’s size and turnovers proved to be a struggle for the Mariners.
The Owls maintained their large lead and Moretti dribbled out the final seconds of the game to finish their 99-49 win in the first home game of the regular season.
Megan Bruinsma is the Sports Editor for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories email her at [email protected] or DM her on Instagram @megan_bruinsma or Twitter (X) @MeganBruinsma.
