NORFOLK, Va. – Trey Porter scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Old Dominion men’s basketball team (23-6, 14-3 C-USA) over Florida Atlantic (12-17, 6-11 C-USA) by a 69-64 score on Thursday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. The Monarchs led for 35:50 of the possible 40 minutes.
ODU has won seven of its last eight, 11 of its last 13 and 18 of its last 21 contests.
Trailing by fourteen at the half, the Owls outscored the Monarchs 23-8 to start the second half, claiming a 40-39 lead with 11:36 to play. ODU answered with a 10-0 run to take a 49-40 advantage at the 8:26 mark.
With 4:47 left, Old Dominion extended its lead to 11, 59-48, before the Owls utilized a 13-4 run to pull within two, 63-61, with 1:15 remaining in regulation. The Monarchs would answer the call again, scoring six of the game’s last nine points to claim the 69-64 victory on Thursday night at the Ted.
Trey Porter (9-12 FG, 11-13 FT) was one board shy of setting a rebounding career-high, finishing the contest with 12; the double-double was his third of the season. Randy Haynes went for 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Brandan Stith recorded a double-double, scoring 10 points, while hauling down 11 rebounds. Brandan Stith eclipsed the 1,000 career point mark on Thursday night.
In a career-high 25 minutes of work, Keith Pinckney scored a career-high six points. In just 11 minutes of action, Aaron Carver rejected a career-high four shots.
For the game, Old Dominion’s defense held the Owls to 36.1% (22-61) shooting from the floor and 35.7% (5-14) from deep. ODU connected on 82.6% (19-23) from the charity stripe for the ballgame.
In a first half that the Monarchs led by as many as 16, ODU claimed a 14-point lead at halftime, 31-17, behind a half-high 17 points (6-8 FG, 5-5 FT) and nine rebounds from Trey Porter.
NEXT UP: SENIOR NIGHT
Old Dominion will return to action this Saturday, March 3, when the Monarchs host Florida International for the 2017-18 regular season finale at 7:00 p.m. Saturday night will also mark Senior Night for Greg McClinton, Keith Pinckney, Randy Haynes, Stephen Vassor and Brandan Stith. Fans are encouraged to arrive and be in there seats early on Saturday night. The contest will air on C-USA TV.