Jan. 24, 2008

Box Score

BOCA RATON, FL - Another big scoring night from Carlos Monroe and more late game heroics from Paul Graham propelled the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team (7-13, 3-6 Sun Belt) to a 70-68 win of the University of Denver Thursday night.

The Pioneers (8-10, 4-3) got out to an early 11-2 lead, including five straight points from Kyle Lewis. Carderro Nwoji answered with five consecutive points of his own to cut the lead to 11-7. Denver was able to push the lead back out to nine at 16-7. Two straight Carlos Monroe buckets cut the lead back down to five, 16-11. A Derrick Simmons layup cut the lead to 16-13. It was Adam Tanner's turn to answer as he scored five straight points to extend Denver's cushion back to eight points. Nwoji and Monroe teamed up for the next seven points and pulled the Owls within one at 21-20. Nigel-Peter Denman hit a three-pointer before Sanchez Hughley made one of two free throws and Paul Graham hit a jumper to cut the deficit to 24-23 at the break.

The two teams traded buckets at the start of the second half as neither team was able to seize control of the contest. An 8-0 run gave FAU a 41-34 lead with 12:13 remaining Adam Tanner responded with another personal 5-0 run to cut the lead to two. The Owls and Pioneers traded buckets for the next several minutes including three ties. The Owls had a 56-51 lead with 46 seconds remaining, when Joe Jackson hit two free throws to pull Denver within three. After a missed Nwoji layup and a Pioneer turnover, Sanchez Hughley was fouled and had a chance to ice the game for the Owls. However, Hughley missed two free throws and Denver's Xander McNally hit a three-pointer with five seconds remaining to tie the game. A Nwoji triple was short at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.

Overtime started as a back and forth struggle for control of the game. A pair of Rob Lewis cut FAU's lead to one at 63-62 with 2:36 remaining. A Monroe layup gave FAU a 65-62 lead. The score was 67-63 in favor of the Owls when Joe Jackson hit a three-pointer to cut the FAU lead to one. After Monroe made one of two free throws, Adam Tanner hit a pair of free throws to tie the game. Graham was fouled on a drive to the basket and hit a pair from the charity stripe give the Owls a 70-68 lead with five seconds left. A Kyle Lewis three-pointer at the buzzer went wide right and the Owls had secured their third victory in four games.

Monroe had 24 points on the night to lead all scorers he is now fifth all-time in FAU history with 1,021 career points. FAU now moves on to face UALR. The action from Little Rock starts at 5:30 eastern.