Richmond, KY – The Eastern Kentucky colonels are unstoppable at home. Tonight, they rolled past the Florida Atlantic Owls 80-73 in their seventh win at home in the 2015-2016 season.
The game started off, and for the most part continued to be, very sloppy and unproductive. Both EKU and FAU had trouble on offense in the first few minutes of the game. The two teams combined for an underwhelming five total points after nearly five minutes of play, and collectively shot 2-12 from the field. It was a cringe-worthy effort at best as both teams failed to find any rhythm on offense and both teams struggled to take a lead of any sort.
Eastern Kentucky settled for bad jumpers and failed to knock them down many times in the first half. Uncharacteristically, EKU’s veteran leaders, Jarelle Reischel and Javontae Hawkins had an abysmal first half, failing to contribute like they so often do. The lone bright spot for Eastern Kentucky in the first half was freshman standout Nick Mayo, who was dominant in the post and scored 10 early points to go with his 2 rebounds, a steal, and a block. Somehow, despite a rough start, EKU was able to convert on 8-9 free throw attempts while FAU had 0-0, and held the lead going into halftime.
After what I’m assuming was a fiery half-time pep talk from EKU head coach Dan McHale, the Colonels came out hot in the second half, in no way resembling the ragged team that had been on the court mere minutes before. The Colonels stepped up on defense and their hounding efforts led to an abundance of forced turnovers that allowed them to go a run and for the first time in the game, secure a lead.
The key factor of free throws continued on in the second half as EKU drained 27-33, outscoring Florida Atlantic by 13 from the charity stripe. At a certain point, the Colonels were scoring almost exclusively on free throw’s, as FAU racked up too many fouls and put EKU in the double bonus with eleven minutes remaining in the second half.
When starting point guard Paul Jackson found himself in foul trouble tonight, freshman Tay Weaver filled in admirably for Jackson, turning in his best collegiate performance yet. Weaver shined on the defensive end, shutting down FAU guards, and added 7 points and 3 rebounds in an impressive relief effort. Alongside Weaver, forward Nick Mayo continued to impress in the second half, abusing Florida Atlantic defenders in the post and turning in a terrific defensive performance.
Although EKU had a momentary lapse late in the second half and let their 13 point lead dwindle down to 2 points, offensive hustle from Tay Weaver and an impressive free throw performance from Jarelle Reischel allowed Eastern Kentucky to retain their lead and put Florida Atlantic away.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES:
–Tay Weaver: 7 pts, 3 reb, 3-4 shooting
–Nick Mayo: 18 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk, 3 stl
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