Martin, Davis help No. 23 FAU roar back to top Wichita State 86-77

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Alijah Martin scored 22 points, Johnell Davis added 19 and No. 23 Florida Atlantic rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to beat Wichita State 86-77 on Thursday night.

Martin had 16 points in the second half and Davis had 14 after halftime for the Owls (14-4, 4-1 American), who won their third straight. Vladislav Goldin scored 17 and Tre Carroll added 10 off the bench for Florida Atlantic — which had Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler and Florida Panthers star Aleksander Barkov sitting courtside.

Quincy Ballard scored 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting for Wichita State (8-9, 0-4), which dropped its sixth straight. Colby Rogers also had 18 for the Shockers, who haven’t had a losing streak this long since 2008-09.

Ballard might have had the play of the night — blocking a dunk try by the 7-foot-1 Goldin, the nation’s leader in field-goal percentage, with 2:28 left. But it wasn’t enough for the Shockers, who managed only five field goals in the final 10 minutes.

Wichita State’s lead was 11 early in the second half, and the chip-chip-chipping away by FAU started.

Every time the Owls made a little dent, the Shockers had a little answer. Jalen Gaffney scored to get FAU within 48-43 with 15:35 left; Isaac Abidde rebutted with a dunk. Alijah Martin had a pair of baskets to get FAU within four; Rogers and Kenny Pohto had the responses after those.

Then, finally, the breakthrough — FAU got back-to-back 3-pointers to fall for only the second time all night, Boyd and Martin hitting them, and reclaimed the lead at 66-64 with 6:48 left.

The Owls wouldn’t trail again. Davis got a three-point play with 3:10 remaining to push the lead to seven.

BIG PICTURE

Wichita State: The Shockers gave themselves a serious chance with a pair of big first-half runs. Wichita State opened the game on a 13-2 run, lost the lead briefly on three occasions — then ran away, ending the half with a 14-0 spurt to take a 42-31 edge into intermission and forcing the Owls to miss their last nine shots of the half.

Florida Atlantic: It was FAU’s first game without injured forward Giancarlo Rosado, who is expected to miss at least four weeks with a sprained left knee. Rosado was hurt in Sunday’s win over UAB. He is expected to miss at least seven games.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

FAU has been in the AP Top 25 for each of the last 12 weeks, one of only 10 teams in the country with such a streak. A win Sunday would likely ensure another appearance.

UP NEXT

Wichita State: Visits South Florida on Sunday.

Florida Atlantic: Visits UTSA on Sunday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball