The Florida Atlantic Owls (17-14, 10-8 AAC) defeated the Charlotte 49ers (11-21, 3-15 AAC) 64-59 in the second round of the American Athletic Conference tournament. The Owls entered the tournament with a No. 5 seeding, while Charlotte was No. 13.

The win advances the Owls to the third round of the AAC tournament and they will face the Tulane Green Wave (18-13, 12-6 AAC) March 13 at 3 p.m. on ESPN2. 

“I thought our defense was first class,” head coach John Jakus said. “[we] held them 35% or less from the field. I think they [49ers] really decided that they were going to make threes to beat us. And we did just enough to guard the three point line down the stretch to win.”

FAU’s center Matas Vokietaitis led the team in multiple categories including points, rebounds and efficiency. He had 17 points on seven made shots out of eight shot attempts. Vokietaitis had seven total rebounds with three of them being offensive rebounds which also led the team.

“I’m just trying to do my things every day,” Vokietaitis said. “I try to listen to coach and it was nothing special. Just, I think, effort and play.”

In both regular season matchups between the two teams, the Owls won by double digits. Charlotte ended the season at the bottom of the conference standings and went into the tournament as the No. 13 seed. They were able to defeat the No. 12 seeded Rice Owls 64-61 in the first round of the tournament to move on to play FAU.

The Owls won the tip-off and capitalized with a dunk by forward Baba Miller to start the game. 49ers forward Robert Braswell IV pulled up from beyond the arc to take the early 3-2 lead. The two teams would score back-and-forth until the first half ended. 

Vokietaitis could not be stopped in the first few minutes of the game. He scored eight straight points with the 49ers struggling against Vokeitaitis’s size. The 49ers were able to keep up with three straight made three-pointers, two of them coming from Braswell. Six minutes into the game, the 49ers led 11-10. 

After some more back-and-forth buckets, the Owls started to pull away with an 8-2 run to make the score 23-17 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. This run was highlighted by Vokietaitis once again. On one play, he slammed home an alley-oop dunk, and on the other play he used his footwork to get around his defender. 

The 49ers started to come back toward the end of the half. They were hitting their shots and forcing turnovers from the Owls. Braswell hit a three pointer with 32 seconds remaining to cut the Owls lead to two. 

Shortly after, Miller and Braswell had to be separated. It appeared that Braswell pushed Miller in the paint, causing him to almost fall down. As soon as Miller regained his balance, he walked up to Braswell and they started to talk back-and-forth to each other before they were separated. 

After review, the officials did call a flagrant one on Braswell for unnecessary contact. This would reward the Owls with two free throws and possession. However, Miller missed both free throws and the Owls would not score before halftime. 

At halftime, the Owls led 29-27 with Vokietaitis leading the game with 12 points. The three-point shooting by the 49ers helped them stay within one possession. They made five threes compared to the Owls one. 

The second half started out the same. Each team traded baskets with no one being able to pull away. Midway through the second half, the Owls looked like they were going to break this cycle when they went on a 7-2 run to take an eight point lead over the 49ers. 

In fact, the 49ers had a 7-2 run of their own, ending with a stepback three point shot by guard Kylan Blackmon to make the score 51-50, favoring the Owls, with five minutes remaining.

Toward the end of the game, the scoring slowed down. The next shot attempt made wouldn’t be for another three minutes with Vokietaitis hitting a jump shot. The Owls were able to take control of the game towards the end with a 10-4 run to gain separation from the 49ers.

The 49ers tried to come back with a couple of made shots, but Owls forward Tre Carroll made the final two free throws to put the game out of reach with six seconds left. The Owls won 64- 59.

Morgan Larkins is a Staff Writer for the University Press. Email him at mlarkins2023@fau.edu or DM him on Instagram or Twitter @mj_larkins for more information regarding this or other stories.