Florida Atlantic rallies from 14 down to defeat Charlotte in overtime

Kanaan Carlyle led the way in scoring with 19 points. Maxim Logue had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench to power the Owls.

Story byPalm Beach Daily News

Florida Atlantic rallies from 14 down to defeat Charlotte in overtime

Justin Backer, Special to The Post

Mon, March 2, 2026 at 12:28 AM UTC·
4 min read

BOCA RATON —Florida Atlantic’s men’s basketball team pulled off a thrilling comeback victory on March 1, topping Charlotte 77-76 in overtime in its final home game of the season.

Freshman Josiah Parker sank the game-winning layup with less than a second remaining to complete a 14-point second-half comeback for the Owls (17-13, 9-8) , who were without leading-scorer Devin Vanterpool for the fourth straight game. Parker finished with 10 points, and nine rebounds.

Kanaan Carlyle led the way in scoring with 19 points. Maxim Logue had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double off thebench. Anton Bonke and Ben Bradford each finished with 20 points for the 49ers (15-14, 9-7).

The Owls, who have clinched a spot in the American Conference Tournament, will be back in action on March 7 to take on Wichita State in Kansas in the regular-season finale.

[Kanaan Carlyle, who led FAU in scoring with 19 points, goes up for a basket against Charlotte in Boca Raton on March 1.]

Kanaan Carlyle, who led FAU in scoring with 19 points, goes up for a basket against Charlotte in Boca Raton on March 1.

“God bless today,” FAU coach John Jakus said. “It was special and fun.”

Here are the takeaways from FAU’s thrilling comeback victory.

Parker makes game-winning layup to complete comeback

The Owls were up 69-66 in the final seconds of regulation before Charlotte’s Damoni Harrison nailed a three with 3.4 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

The Owls found themselves down 76-75 in overtime after Charlotte’s Raul Villar hit a three with less than 10 seconds remaining. To avoid yet another crushing loss at home, the Owls were going to need a hero, and they would only have 5.9 seconds to get it done.

They got just that in Josiah Parker. The standout freshman scored the game-winning layup with 0.6 seconds remaining. Charlotte was unable to get a shot off in time, and the Owls had rallied for a win that could serve them well in the conference tournament.

“It was fun,” Parker said, recalling his game-sealing bucket. “The play was for me. But Kanaan was scorching the whole game, so he could’ve easily taken the last shot, but he trusted me to make that last shot. I was in the right place at the right time and made it.”

Maxim Logue notches impressive double-double off the bench

Logue, playing in just his third game after missing nearly a month with a foot injury, was just as pivotal as anyone in the win over Charlotte. Sporting a protective face mask, Logue notched his first double-double of the season, while also coming away with 3 steals and 2 blocks in a season-high 28 minutes.

“Maxim is as physically gifted as almost anybody I’ve been around,” Jakus said. “I’m just happy there was some fruit to some of the ups and downs with the injuries this year.”

Notably, Logue did an exceptional job of guarding Bonke — who stands 7-foot-2, 270 pounds. After scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the first half, Bonke was held to 6 points and 6 rebounds in the second half, anddidn’t record a stat in overtime.

“We tell him to play hard every day, and he went out there and played his hardest,” Parker said. “He obviously had a tough matchup, but I feel like he won his matchup today.”

FAU goes on 23-6 run to snatch momentum from 49ers

The Owls entered halftime trailing by 10, looking largely uninspired throughout the first half. It wouldn’t get much better to open the second half, as FAU didn’t score for the first three minutes, going down by 14.

Then, the switch flipped. Florida Atlantic embarked on a 23-6 scoring run over the next eight minutes to take a 60-57 lead with over seven minutes remaining in regulation. FAU would go up by as much as 5, then the two teams would trade blows until Harrison’s three sent the game to overtime. Without that run, FAU could have been staring down the barrel of a deflating loss at home.

“We were not tough at all for 25 minutes,” Jakus said. “We found our toughness in the last bit, and I’m thankful for that.”

Guard Niccolo Moretti, who was on the floor for the majority of FAU’s run, noted the team’s increased defensive intensity in the second-half as a catalyst to the win.

Charlotte shot 34 percent from the floor, and 14 percent from three-point range in the second half after shooting 54 percen, and 42 percent, respectively, in the first half.

“They were just getting whatever they wanted, whether it was post-ups for the big, or the shots from three," Moretti said. “[Ben] Bradford torched us today on his drives. But, we found a way to collapse on his drives, and at the same time, close out their shooters. That probably was the key."

*This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU defeats Charlotte, clinches spot in American Conference Tournament*

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