Owls drop second straight in 73-63 loss at Denver

Denver University (14-9, 7-5) shot 71.4% from long range to defeat Florida Atlantic (12-12, 8-5) 73-63 tonight at Magness Arena.

Nate Rohnert posted a game high 25 point and eight rebound performance as the Pioneers extended their home winning streak to 13 games.

The loss was the Owl’s second straight, and knocks FAU out of first place in the East Division while setting up a two way tie with Troy for second.

Ray Taylor, who led the Owls with 20 points, gave FAU a 7-4 lead early in the first half, but it would be the Pioneers game the rest of the way.

"Our offense was crisp right from the start, and I thought we were very good defensively at zeroing in on the scouting report”, said Denver head coach Joe Scott.

And crisp it was, as the young Owl roster had a tough time defending against the constant motion and screens used by the Pioneers in their Princeton offense.

Denver connected on 10-14 three pointers for the contest, building an 18 point lead midway through the second.

“They made shots.  At times it was not being aggressive, and not switching. But they made the shots early, got the big lead, and were able to hold on”, said Mike Jarvis.

The Owls made a valiant comeback effort with 2:04 remaining after a lay-up by Taylor made it 66-60.

But turnovers and fouls down the stretch stymied further progression as Rohnert connected on 7-8 free throws to seal it for the Pioneers.

“We certainly have a lot of work to do on our defense. Glad the way the guys finished up, fought hard at the end, and got it down to a two possession game”, Jarvis said.

Final score aside, Florida Atlantic did win the lay-up battle 10-5. This is surprising given the focus of Denver’s offense.

The Owls return to FAU Arena to host Louisiana-Lafayette (11-12, 8-4) on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

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