BOCA RATON, Fla. — Vladislav Goldin scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Bryan Greenlee made five 3-pointers on his way to a season-high 21 points and Florida Atlantic beat Memphis 92-84 on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both clubs.
On Feb. 25, Memphis defeated visiting FAU 78-74, in the first rematch of last year's NCAA tournament game won by the Owls.
But it was a different story at the sold-out Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena on Saturday.
Alijah Martin scored 16 and Johnell Davis added 14 for the Owls (24-7, 14-4 American Athletic), a Final Four team last season that will be the No. 2 seed for the AAC Tournament that starts Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Owls will open tournament play with a quarterfinal game Friday.
"We like where we are right now," FAU coach Dusty May said. "We feel good about the pulse of our locker room, the synergy of our team."
The Owls are 30-1 at home over two years.
"The fans, the atmosphere from FAU the past two, three, four years I've been here have just been nothing short of amazing," Greenlee, a senior who scored a three-pointer to put the Owels ahead by 9 late in the game. "To watch the growth that we've had."
Nae'Qwan Tomlin scored 27 points for Memphis (22-9, 11-7), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped. David Jones and Jahvon Quinerly each scored 16 and Jaykwon Walton added 10 for the Tigers, who likely are on the NCAA tournament bubble entering the AAC tournament.
Memphis led by as many as six in the opening 10 minutes, but the Owls used an 11-2 run — with Goldin scoring six straight FAU points in that spurt — to take the lead for good later in the first half.
Greenlee hit a pair of jumpers in the final 45 seconds of the half for a six-point lead at the break, and Martin had an alley-oop dunk with 13:19 left for a 55-45 lead — the first double-digit edge by either side. The lead reached as many as 14 with 6:01 left before Memphis tried to rally.
FAU sold out every game at home this season, going 13-1 and 9-0 in conference games there.
