Botley, FAU beat UTSA in C-USA tournament opener 82-58
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Marquan Botley made five 3-pointers and scored 24 points and Florida Atlantic defeated UTSA 82-58 in the opener of the Conference USA tournament on Tuesday.
The Owls (8-24), who ended a six-game losing streak, play No. 5 seed Old Dominion on Wednesday.
Ronald Delph scored 19 points and Jeantal Cylla and Adonis Filer had 11 points each for FAU, which shot 49 percent and was 8 of 17 from the arc while making 22 of 26 free throws.
JR Harris made five 3-pointers and scored 21 points to lead the Roadrunners (5-27). Ryan Bowie added 15 points and Phillip Jones 10 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
Delph scored five points in a 15-4 run to open the second half for a 46-31 lead and FAU went up by 26 points with an 11-0 spurt capped by two Botley 3-pointers with 9:44 remaining.
FAU used a 14-0 run to take the lead for good at 21-10.