NORFOLK, Va. – B.J. Stith led four Monarchs in double-figures with 15 points, as the Old Dominion men’s basketball team (14-8, 7-3 C-USA) topped Florida International (5-17, 1-8 C-USA) by a 64-57 score on Thursday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. ODU’s four turnovers is the fewest this season and nearly set a school record which was set in 1980 against Charlotte, when Old Dominion committed just three turnovers.
Trailing by as many as six at one point in the contest, the Monarchs rallied to take its first lead of the second half, 49-48 with 8:01 to play. The Panthers clawed back scoring four straight to take a 52-49 lead at the 7:03 mark, but Old Dominion out-scored FIU 15-4 the rest of the way to claim the seven point victory on Thursday night in Norfolk.
“We weren’t able to take control of this game until towards the end," said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “I thought the real key was our nine steals, in which we generated some offense from. This was a good job in regards to getting the win, now we have a quick turnaround to play a good FAU team on Saturday.”
B.J. Stith also hauled down five rebounds to go with two steals and his team-high 15 points. Ahmad Caver went for 14 points and six assists, while turning the ball over just once. Trey Porter (seven rebounds) and Zoran Talley (three assists and two rebounds) each scored 10 points, respectively. Brandan Stith chipped in nine points and four rebounds in 19 minutes of work.
For the game, Old Dominion held advantages for points off turnovers (16-4), bench points (19-11), steals (9-2) and assists (15-9).
The Monarchs trailed by three at the half, 34-31, as the first half saw four ties and three lead changes. Old Dominion was led by B.J. Stith’s 10 points on 2-2 shooting from deep, while Trey Porter followed with nine points on 3-3 shooting from the floor.
NEXT UP FOR THE MONARCHS
Old Dominion will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 4, when the Monarchs welcome Florida Atlantic to the Ted Constant Convocation Center at 7:00 p.m. The game will on ESPN3.
ALL TIME SERIES: ODU vs. FAU
-Saturday marks the sixth all-time meeting between ODU and FAU
-Old Dominion leads the all-time series, 5-0.
-These two teams met twice last season, with ODU sweeping the Owls in Boca Raton (78-66) and in Birmingham (72-46) at the conference tournament.
-These teams first met in the 2006-07 season in Norfolk, where the Monarchs prevailed, 70-55.
SINGLE-GAME TICKETS
Single-game tickets for Old Dominion University men’s basketball are on sale now at www.ynottix.com or by calling 757-683-4444.
For group pricing (10+), please call Todd McKeating at 757-683-7087.
All ODU students get in free all year long.
VOUCHER BOOKS
The voucher book includes 10 ticket vouchers that can be redeemed for tickets to any remaining home men’s basketball games. The tickets can be used all at once to bring a family or group of friends or spread out amongst multiple games. If you run out of vouchers, simply come back and purchase another voucher book. At just $99 per voucher book, it represents more than $70, or 40%, savings over face value.
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For a more in-depth look into the men’s basketball program, be sure to follow @ODUMBB on Twitter, ‘ODU Basketball’ on Facebook and odu_mbb on Instagram.