BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - Greg Gantt scored 23 points, and Florida Atlantic held off Louisiana-Lafayette's second-half comeback to claim a 75-70 victory on Thursday night in a Sun Belt Conference game.
Stefan Moody had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Owls (6-6, 3-2), and Pablo Bertone scored 12.
Elfrid Payton led the Ragin' Cajuns (6-10, 2-3) with 23 points, Shawn Long had 22 points and nine rebounds, and Bryant Mbamalu scored 17 points.
The Owls led 39-27 at halftime and 65-56 with 7:31 to go on Moody's two free throws, but Louisiana-Lafayette began closing. The Ragin' Cajuns cut it to 69-65 with 3:11 remaining on Bryant's pair of free throws but could draw no closer.
Florida Atlantic shot 85.7 percent from the free-throw line (18 of 21), including 14 of 17 in the second half, while Louisiana-Lafayette made only 52.4 percent (11 of 21).
| Scoreboard | |||
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
| Louisiana-Lafayette (6-10) | 27 | 43 | 70 |
| Florida Atlantic (8-8) « | 39 | 36 | 75 |
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| Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| S. Long, F | 39 | 9-18 | 3-4 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| B. Mbamalu, F | 35 | 6-9 | 2-2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 17 |
| E. Moore, F | 32 | 0-3 | 1-2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| E. Payton, G | 35 | 10-14 | 3-6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 23 |
| S. Wronkoski, G | 23 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| A. Thompson | 17 | 2-3 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| J. Soto | 12 | 0-2 | 2-5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| K. Shepherd | 6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| A. Leblanc | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 27-53 | 11-21 | 29 | 9 | 16 | 70 | |
| 50.9% | 52.4% | ||||||
| Florida Atlantic Owls | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| J. McCoy, F | 36 | 3-3 | 1-2 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| K. Penn, F | 28 | 0-2 | 2-4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| G. Gantt, G | 39 | 8-17 | 5-5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 23 |
| S. Moody, G | 31 | 6-12 | 2-2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 16 |
| P. Bertone, G | 30 | 4-10 | 3-3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| C. Baker | 15 | 1-3 | 4-4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| D. Sekelja | 12 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| J. Trapp | 5 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| C. Bryant | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| A. Mattison | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 26-54 | 18-21 | 32 | 12 | 17 | 75 | |
| 48.1% | 85.7% | ||||||
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