MTSU men's basketball eliminated by FAU 68-65 in C-USA semifinals
Middle Tennessee State men's basketball had a layup blocked in the closing seconds and a 3-pointer missed at the buzzer as it fell to No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic 68-65 in the Conference USA Tournament semifinals Friday in Frisco, Texas.
The fourth-seeded Blue Raiders (19-14) will await their postseason fate, whether it be in the NIT or another tournament. MTSU played in the College Basketball Invitational last season.
With MTSU trailing 66-65, DeAndre Dishman's putback with three seconds left was blocked and the Blue Raiders fouled after the rebound. FAU (30-3) hit both and Cam Weston's 3-pointer was long at the buzzer.
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MTSU trailed by six with less than a minute remaining before cutting it to 64-62 on a Justin Bufford 3-pointer with 25 seconds left. Down 66-62, Bufford hit a 3-pointer and was fouled, but missed the free throw. MTSU knocked the rebound off FAU to retain possession before Dishman missed a layup and had his putback blocked.
"I think our team showed a lot of toughness and grit and fight again this morning and this afternoon," MTSU coach Nick McDevitt said. "Last night, had a lot of fight and some of the breaks went our way. The big shots, the timely shots, we made them and we advanced. Tonight, I thought we did a lot of really good things, gave ourselves a chance to win."
Dishman led MTSU with 17 points while Elias King added 13, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Johnell Davis led FAU with 18 points.
MTSU, which came from behind to defeat Charlotte in the quarterfinals, struggled offensively in the first half, hitting just 9-of-31 (29%) from the field, including 0-of-9 from 3-point range in falling down 37-25 at intermission.
The Blue Raiders had scored just 10 points in the first 12 minutes of the half before picking it up in the final eight minutes.
MTSU attempted 10 more shots than FAU in the half but made three fewer shots. The Owls, who were 12-of-21 from the field and hit four 3-pointers, went on an 14-4 run to build a 14-point lead at one point.
The Blue Raiders went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 39-35 with 15:22 remaining, but a technical called on the bench gave momentum back to the Owls, turning it into a three-point possession to push the advantage back to seven and went on a 8-2 run to get the lead back to 10.
MTSU cut the lead to as little as three (54-51) with 6:47 left after holding FAU scoreless over a 3:28 stretch and then tied it at 57 with just over three minutes remaining.
"We've got some guys that have been banged up for weeks now," McDevitt said. "We're certainly honored and flattered to be invited to postseason play. Obviously, you've had to have a good four months to be invited to do something like that. But we really do need to evaluate where our players are at this point in the year."
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: NCAA men's basketball: MTSU loses to FAU in C-USA semifinals
