The Owls had no answer for East Carolina's leading scorer, senior guard Jordan Riley, who finished with a game-high 35 points.
BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic’s men’s basketball suffered one of its worst losses of the season, falling 76-75 at home to East Carolina on Feb. 1.
Freshman Josiah Parker — who finished with 15 points — missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity in the final seconds to seal the win for East Carolina (7-15, 2-7), which has been one of the worst teams in the newly named American Conference this season.
Isaiah Elohim scored a career-high 20 points, but the Owls (14-9, 6-4) had no answer for senior guard Jordan Riley, who finished with a game-high 35 points.
After being blown out by Memphis in their last outing, sloppy performances on both sides of the ball led to the Owls’ third-straight loss. They’ll look to get back in the win column on Feb. 4 when they host the first-place Tulsa Golden Hurricane (19-3, 7-2), who have won six straight.
“We did the exact opposite of what was necessary today,” FAU head coach John Jakus said.
ECU's Jordan Riley was unstoppable
Riley has been one of the most prolific scorers in the country this season, entering the contest averaging 22.3 points per game. His abilities were on full display against FAU.
Playing all 40 minutes, Riley made 11 of 21 shots from the floor, 2-for-4 from beyond the arc, while also grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Riley also knocked down 11 of his 14 free-throw attempts
“I think we did the exact opposite of what you need to do, 60 percent to 80 percent of the time,” Jakus said of the failure to defend Riley. “He’s a really good player, most people are not going to be able to guard him one on one, and if anything, we proved that pretty firmly tonight.”
Kanaan Carlyle plays through calf injury but struggles
After missing FAU’s previous game against Memphis with a calf injury, Kanaan Carlyle gave it a go against East Carolina. From the jump, it was clear that he wasn’t 100 percent.
Carlyle was scoreless, attempting one shot in 16 minutes, while also committing three turnovers. After playing 12 minutes in the first half, Carlyle only played 4 minutes after halftime, and sat out the final 16:40.
“Kanaan was as brave as anybody on our team,” Jakus said. “If the rest of the guys had the same bravery, we might be celebrating right now.”
Jakus added that Carlyle’s injury might have an adverse effect on the Owls’ next game.
“We’ve got to really think about what we’re going to do moving forward,” he said. “We wanted a healthy Kanaan for Tulsa, and then the bye week. We thought we could get through these two games, and then give him the week off, but because of today, I don’t know. We’re going to have to look at it.
“He tried to do his best for his teammates, and I’m really proud of him for that.”
In addition to Carlyle’s injury, backup forward Maxim Logue was out against ECU due to a foot injury. Jakus isn’t sure when he’ll be able to return.
Owls commit 16 turnovers in loss
During their three-game losing skid, nothing has hurt the Owls more than turnovers. Florida Atlantic committed 16 against the Pirates.
After committing 24 turnovers in their blowout loss to Memphis last week, the Owls followed that up with another sloppy performance. Devin Vanterpool’s four turnovers led the way, and eight players committed at least one turnover.
FAU committed 10 turnovers in the first half, including a 4-minute span in which they committed six on consecutive possessions.
“The turnovers are a tad bit surprising to me,” Jakus said. “When we did it right, we looked good. 75 points was enough to win. We fix that, we win the game. Even if we’re just a little better, we win the game."
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU Owls upset by East Carolina Pirates in American Conference game
Category: General Sports
