The jam that propelled Old Dominion to victory Saturday had nothing to do with slamming a ball through a basket.
It was considerably more painful than that, but it ended up serving the Monarchs well.
A sore A.J. Oliver scored 17 points and ODU overcame a sluggish start in a 64-55 Conference USA win over Florida Atlantic at Chartway Arena.
The triumph, their third straight, completed a two-game series sweep for the Monarchs (7-3, 3-1 C-USA), who shot just 38% from the field but forced 23 turnovers and made them count.
ODU trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half before roaring back. Runs of 11-0 and 9-2 beginning midway through the second half broke open what had been a seesaw few minutes.
Oliver jammed his right index finger shortly before raining a first-half mini-barrage of 3-pointers on surging FAU (5-6, 0-2) to get the Monarchs back into it.
“After that, I just was like, ‘If it’s going up and I’ve got it in my hands, it’s going in,’ ” said Oliver, a 6-foot-5 junior guard who made 3 of 6 from long range. “That’s essentially how I feel the entire game. Once I jammed my finger, I was like, ‘All right, there’s nothing worse than this.’ I just kept going. My teammates kept feeding me the ball in situations where I could put it up at the right time, and the shots kept falling.”
Bryan Greenlee scored 14 points for the Owls, who shot 41.2% from the field but couldn’t hold on to the ball. ODU converted the turnovers into 20 points while coughing it up just 11 times.
The Monarchs, who won Friday’s opener 71-67, made 21 of 28 free throws and confounded FAU at times with a 1-3-1 zone.
“We weren’t shooting the ball particularly well, so really, the only way we were scoring was by being active in the zone, getting our hands on the ball,” ODU coach Jeff Jones said.
“The 23 turnovers are great, but you can get turnovers and not turn them into points. … That’s a real key factor.”
Joe Reece added 14 points for ODU, which led by as many as 12 on three second-half occasions.
But there wasn’t much comfort until the Monarchs scored 11 straight points starting with 121/2 minutes left in the game to assume the lead for good.
Oliver said he assessed his team’s personnel when it reported back to campus in August and liked what he saw. It’s just a matter of looking that way for 40 minutes.
“I knew we were going to be able to do something of this caliber,” Oliver said. “The problem is that we have to start like that. We can’t come in against other teams … coming out flat like that and try and pick it up in the rest of the game. We have to start strong, and once we get that down pat, I think we’ll be a very hard team to beat.”
ODU used a 9-0 spurt, all on Oliver 3-pointers in about a minute and a half, to rally from what had been a 22-8 first-half deficit. The Monarchs tied it at 24 on a pair of Oliver free throws, 1:40 before FAU took a 29-26 lead into halftime.
The Monarchs misfired early, connecting on just 3 of their first 17 field-goal attempts.
They broke a scoring drought of nearly five minutes when Reece hit a jumper from the right elbow to pull ODU to within 22-10 with 8:23 to go in the first half. A 9-0 Monarchs burst soon followed, and the game was on.
ODU, which won Friday’s opener 71-67, visits Rice for a pair of games Friday and Saturday. The Monarchs will fly to Texas with a growing self-assuredness.
“I think our guys have gained some confidence and are feeling good about winning three in a row,” Jones said. “But I think the big thing is for us to understand that we can feel good without taking our foot off the gas pedal. And that’s really key. We’ve got to keep improving. I think we’ve made strides the last two weeks. We’ve got to keep getting better each week. If we can do that, then I’m really, really pleased.”
Oliver, a transfer from Clemson, smiled at a suggestion that he should consider jamming his finger before every game.
“That’s the game plan from now on,” he said.
“It hurts, but I’ll be all right.”
ODU 64, FAU 55
FLORIDA ATLANTIC (5-6, 0-2 C-USA): Ingram 4-10 0-0 11, Silins 4-8 2-2 10, Blackshear 2-3 0-0 4, Forrest 2-12 0-0 5, Greenlee 5-9 0-0 14, Winchester 2-6 3-6 7, Boyd 0-0 0-0 0, Kapiti 1-1 0-0 2, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Niang 1-1 0-0 2, Martin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-51 5-8 55.
OLD DOMINION (7-3, 3-1): Ezikpe 2-5 3-4 7, Reece 6-10 1-1 14, Curry 3-8 4-6 10, Green 2-5 1-2 5, Oliver 4-10 6-6 17, Trice 1-7 3-5 5, Hunter 0-3 2-2 2, Long 1-2 1-2 4. Totals 19-50 21-28 64.
Half—FAU 29-26. 3-point goals—FAU 8-28 (Greenlee 4-7, Ingram 3-8, Forrest 1-9, Blackshear 0-1, Winchester 0-1, Silins 0-2), ODU 5-15 (Oliver 3-6, Long 1-2, Reece 1-4, Curry 0-1, Green 0-1, Hunter 0-1). Rebounds—FAU 38 (Ingram 10), ODU 28 (Reece 9). Assists—FAU 13 (Ingram 6), ODU 9 (Hunter 5). Fouls—FAU 23, ODU13. A—250.
