Dec. 22, 2000

Box Score

In the final day of play in the San Juan Holiday Classic, the Florida Atlantic men's basketball team (2-10) lost to American University of Puerto Rico(2-4), 77-60.

Earnest Crumbley was named to the the all-tournament team after turning in a career-high 20 point performance against the Pirates. Nick Neumann led the team in rebounds with nine. Joseph Rodriguez was the game-high scorer with 33 points for AU.

After leading for most of the first five minutes of the game, the Owls fell behind, but evened the contest at 21 with 5:37 left in the half, on two free-throws by Crumbley. The Pirates continued to drive the lane leading to 14 first-half fouls by the Owls. AU was able to get to the freethrow line 21 times in the first half, where they shot 67%. Since the Pirates capitalized on their freethrows, they were able to take a 33-28 point lead at the half.

American University came out hot in the second half and shot 80% from behind the arc. Crumbley was able to help keep the Owls in the game by scoring 18 of his career-high 20 points in the second half. FAU was able to tie the game at 58 with 4:39 left in the game before the Pirates went on a 19-2 run to close out the game.

Florida Atlantic plays its next game against conference opponent Mercer, January 3, in Macon, GA.