FAU basketball: Nick Boyd's late layup vs. Memphis vaults Owls to first NCAA Tournament win

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In his 81st game with the program, Johnell Davis stood under the Florida Atlantic basket with 5.5 seconds left and the game on the line. Looking to his left, the third-year guard spied Nick Boyd and fired him a pass in the right corner.

Boyd caught it, dribbled to his left, slashed into the lane, got to his left hand and finished with two seconds remaining, propelling the ninth-seeded Owls (32-3) past No. 8 seed Memphis (26-9) in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at Nationwide Arena.

It capped a wild final minute, one that had four lead changes and wasn’t over until a last-second 3-point attempt from Memphis was rejected into press row as the Owls poured onto the court in jubilation to celebrate the first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

"I was going to shoot the 3," Boyd said. "He jumped for the shot fake. And Vlad (Vladislav Goldin) had a great seal, allowed me to get to the rim. I just thought about finishing no matter what."

With the win, Florida Atlantic will play No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson (7:30 p.m., TRU TV), which shocked No. 1 seed Purdue earlier in the evening, for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16.

Giancarlo Rosado led the Owls with 15 points and was perfect on six field-goal attempts. Davis had 12 points and Bryan Greenlee and Alijah Martin each added 10.

Heading into the final play, Boyd told coach Dusty May he wanted the ball.

"He said, ‘Coach, I’ve got it,' " May said. "That gave me confidence. Nick’s a very talented scorer. He got some space in the corner to work."

Davis’ 3-pointer with 3:56 remaining had pulled Florida Atlantic within 60-59, but at the media timeout with 3:04 remaining the officials added one point to the Owls’ total after reviewing an earlier deep jumper, suddenly making it a tie game as the Owls inbounded the ball.

And when Rosado capped a wild sequence involving a near-turnover with the ball deflected deep into the backcourt, an offensive rebound of a desperation heave and a bunch of Memphis bodies in the paint, the 62-60 lead with 2:30 left was Florida Atlantic’s first since it was 31-29 with 1:59 remaining in the first half.

Game recap:Florida Atlantic basketball stuns Memphis for first NCAA Tournament win

It was the fifth lead change of the game, but not the last. DeAndre Williams’ 3-point play with 1:28 left put the Tigers back on top by a point, but Martin’s putback of a Boyd miss with 56 seconds remaining flipped the lead again. The Owls forced a contested 3 from Elijah McCadden that fell short, but Williams was there to tip in the miss with 34.3 seconds left for the third lead change in the final minute.

With the blue-clad Memphis cheering section chanting for defense, Davis had his go-ahead layup attempt blocked by Williams with 19.8 seconds to play. The Owls set up their press, forced a turnover only to have Davis lose the ball, setting off a scramble in Florida Atlantic’s offensive end that culminated with a scrum and the referees calling for a jump ball.

The arrow favored Florida Atlantic, giving them one final chance with 5.5 seconds left and those still inside Nationwide Arena on their feet.

The Owls sustained a stretch of having missed 13 of 14 shots during the second half to celebrate with a photo with the pep band at midcourt, chanting “FAU!” all the while. Now they get a shot at a Cinderella with an eye on making history in Fairleigh Dickinson.

"They’re undersized and they’re physical," Boyd said. "I think it’s going to be a tough battle. Two great teams and we’ve got to be ready."

When Boyd’s final shot of the half, a 3-pointer from the right wing, hit the front of the rim to send the Owls into the locker room trailing 35-31, they huddled as a group near the March Madness logo at center court as Memphis coach Penny Hardaway stood nearby doing a live TV interview.

Florida Atlantic took the moment to seemingly regroup after the Tigers had closed the half on a 12-2 run. The Owls had led by as many as 10 points in the early going and were ahead 29-23 on a Goldin layup with 5:32 left, but their only points before the half came on a layup from West Palm Beach native Rosado with 1:59 left that broke a 29-all tie.

Memphis’ Kendric Davis reclaimed the lead with a 3-pointer on the next possession, and he hit another with 18 seconds left to set the halftime score. Florida Atlantic trailed despite having led for 13:38 to that point.

Rosado had 11 of his team’s 31 points at the half.

"We didn't come here to win one game," he said. "We didn't come here to win two games. We came to win it because that's what we do. We've proved that we're a top 25 program. Half of the season we were top 25.

"We've proved we're supposed to be here."

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: FAU basketball: Nick Boyd's late layup vaults Owls to first NCAA Tournament win