By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The FAU Owls bolted to a 15-point halftime lead, built it to as many as 29 in the second half and then cruised to an easy 94-74 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners Wednesday in men’s college basketball.
In an American Athletic Conference game played at Boca Raton, Fla., guard KyKy Tandy scored 26 points to lead five FAU players in double figures.
The Owls shot 65 percent from the field in the second half and 54 percent for the game against the short-handed Roadrunners, who once again played with only eight scholarship players.
Tandy took the lead role in the offensive binge, hitting nine of 11 shots from the field and eight of 10 from the 3-point arc.
For the Roadrunners, six-foot-six guard Damari Monsanto continued his hot shooting, scoring 21 points on seven 3-point baskets. The Wake Forest transfer finished seven-for-nine from beyond the arc.
Another hot hand for UTSA, Houston area native Marcus Millender, scored 19. But the Owls did a decent job on the South Alabama transfer, who was held to six of 17 from the floor. FAU also did a decent job with Primo Spears, who finished with 16 points on six of 16.
A turning point came late in the first half. After Monsanto buried his fourth three of the game on the fast break to pull the Roadrunners to within one point, the Owls took off on an 18-4 run to the buzzer.
FAU put an exclamation mark on the run when it inbounded from the baseline to Baba Miller, who delivered from the post for a 47-32 lead with 32 seconds remaining.
The Owls won the rebounding battle 28-9 in the opening half and 43-28 for the game against the Roadrunners, who are playing without two big men that they had in their original recruiting class last summer.
After his rebound and basket to end the half, the Owls had firm control of the proceedings. In the first minute of the second half, Millender knocked down a three to bring UTSA to within 12.
Just like that, the Owls struck back, going off on a 15-3 streak to make it a 24-point game. Consecutive triples by Tandy, a transfer from Jacksonville State, made it 62-38 with 16 minutes left.
The Roadrunners would get no closer than 17 the rest of the way.
Just like the Roadrunners, the Owls have retooled their program with a new coach, John Jakus, who led his team to a victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys earlier in the season. Backing up Tandy, Kaleb Glenn produced 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Guard Ken Evans Jr. and 7-foot center Matas Vokietaitis scored 12 points each.
The 6-foot-11 Miller was a wonder on the floor, with multiple skills, as he finished with 10 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.
Records
UTSA 9-11, 3-5
FAU 11-10, 4-4
Coming up
UTSA at North Texas, Saturday, 5 p.m.