Rutherford Times

Middle Tennessee men's basketball jumped out to a double-digit lead early in the second half, setting the tone for a raucous Murphy Center crowd to see the Blue Raiders defeat No. 25 Florida Atlantic 74-70 on Thursday night in MTSU's first win over a ranked opponent since their First Round win over No. 2 Michigan State in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

 

The Blue Raiders (16-11, 9-7 C-USA) trailed by one point at halftime after withstanding a 7-0 run to end the half from the Owls (24-3, 14-2 C-USA). But coming out of the locker room to start the game's second 20 minutes, MTSU scored eight out of 20 points on the fast break in the half's opening nine minutes, forcing an FAU timeout after Elias King put up a layup off a Teafale Lenard steal on an inbound, giving MTSU a 15-point lead at 56-41.

 

The Owls would find a counter punch late with some hot three-point shooting (6-for-12 beyond the arc in the second half). But clutch free throws from Justin Bufford and Eli Lawrence helped seal the game late, as a final heave from FAU clanged off the glass at the buzzer.

 

Camryn Weston led all scorers with 16 points and led MTSU with seven rebounds on the night, one of four Blue Raiders to score in double figures. King scored 15 points off the bench, buoyed by a 3-for-3 night for three. Bufford tied his career high with 12 points and led the team with three steals. Lawrence, was the final MTSU player to score at least 10 points, scoring 13 on Thurday.

 

By the Numbers

 

40-32: The rebounding advantage for MTSU on Thursday. The Blue Raiders were able to hold the Owls under their season average by more six boards to help limit FAU possessions and extend MTSU ones.

 

13: Second Chance Points for the Blue Raiders, out pacing FAU by four in that category, thus making up the difference in the game's scoreline. MTSU has 11 offensive rebounds on Thursday while limiting FAU to just five offensive boards.

 

16-4: The run to the start the second half for MTSU, highlighted by eight points off the fast break. The run gave MTSU an 11-point lead, one which would grow to as many as 15 points, helping the Blue Raiders sustain the advantage through a flurry of late offense from the Owls.

 

Blue Raider Notes

 

• The Blue Raiders average 47.0 points per second half over their last five games, shooting .586 (85-for-145) from the floor after halftime.
• Teafale Lenard, Jr. moved into sole possession of seventh place in single-season blocks with his 49th and 50th of the season.
• Lenard joins Warren Kidd as the only Blue Raiders with multiple 50-block seasons in their careers.

Thoughts from Head Coach Nick McDevitt

 

" I was really proud of our team. A really good win versus a really good team. You've got to play well any time you're going to try to knock off a Top 25 team and I thought we were locked in on both end of the floor. We talked about making sure we didn't let them get out in transition over and over, particularly with live ball turnovers.

 

"We ended up with nine turnovers on the night. We had three in the first three or four minutes. We came to the huddle at the under 16 in the first half, saw we had three turnovers and then we had three in the entire second half. I thought that was a big key, just ball care.

 

"I thought some guys just made some timely plays, a timely shot. They cut it seven, I think it was 61-54, and Eli made a big-time pull-up jumper over Goldin to kept it at nine. They were on kind of a semi-run and Elias King made a three in the corner opposite our bench. And then the free throws down the stretch. We didn't turn it over when they were pressing us and I thought it was fitting having Eli seal the game the night he got his 1,000th point ball."

 

Player's Perspective – Camryn Weston

 

"The preparation was all about rebounding. We felt like we didn't play like ourselves the last couple of games and we just had to get back to ourselves, which is crashing the glass and rebounding. I felt like I had to make a big impact on that." 

Original source can be found here