CJ O'Hara Scores 24 as Wright State Routs Florida Atlantic 97-71

Florida Atlantic tied the game once, at 2-2, a little more than a minute in. That was the last time the Owls had any say in how the night would go. Wright State answered with a burst that turned a friendly early-season nonconference date into a statement, and CJ O'Hara finished with 24 points as the Raiders rolled past Florida Atlantic 97-71 on Friday night at the Nutter Center.

Wright State is 2-0, and both wins have been blowouts. Monday's opener against Air Force ended 102-71. This one ended 97-71, against a program from the American Conference that came to Fairborn with an opening win over LIU in hand. The betting market had priced this as a game of a field goal and change, with Wright State closing as a 3.5-point favorite. The Raiders led for 39 minutes and 15 seconds of it.

Twelve Straight and a Four-Minute Drought

The opening minutes were tidy for Wright State. Andrea Holden hit a short jumper on the first possession, Kanaan Carlyle answered for the tie, and Chadlyn Traylor and Dominic Pangonis pushed it back to 7-2 with a jumper and a 3. Felipe Quinones made two free throws at the 17:34 mark to get FAU within 7-4.

Then the Owls went quiet. Wright State scored the next 12 points, a stretch from a Traylor jumper at 17:25 through an O'Hara layup at 13:21. Ilija Milijasevic splashed a 3 off a Traylor feed, Holden scored on a layup and then a dunk on back-to-back baskets, and suddenly it was 19-4. FAU did not score for 4 minutes and 28 seconds, from those Quinones free throws until his dunk at 13:06.

The lead never dipped under double digits again. Kellen Pickett drilled a 3 at the 10:00 mark for 26-10. Pangonis hit his second 3 at 7:39 to make it 34-14, the first 20-point cushion of the night. When Matthew Puodziukaitis hit a 3 to cut it to 36-19, Wright State responded with seven straight points at the free throw line and around the rim, with Isaiah Williams and Noah Lewis contributing off the bench, to go up 43-19 with 3:20 left. Carlyle's jumper at 0:47 sent it to the break at 47-28.

Forty-seven first-half points is a lot. Nineteen points of separation against an American Conference opponent is more.

Holden Owns the Paint

O'Hara led the scoring, but Holden was the most complete player on the floor, finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds, a double-double built on 6-of-9 shooting and 7-of-8 at the line, with three of those boards coming on the offensive glass. Holden also handed out three assists, including the one that set up Pangonis for the 3 that made it 7-2.

That interior presence shaped the whole box score. Wright State outscored FAU 42-28 in the paint and 18-9 on second-chance points. The Raiders won the rebounding battle 38-26, including 27 defensive boards to FAU's 16. Holden and O'Hara alone combined for seven offensive rebounds, and the Raiders turned their misses into twice as many second-chance points as FAU did.

The Raiders shot 33-of-58 from the floor, a 57% clip, and did it without leaning on the 3. They went 7-of-20 from deep, a respectable 35% but hardly the engine. The engine was the rim and the free throw line, where Wright State went 24-of-27.

O'Hara Never Missed When It Counted

O'Hara's line is a clinic in efficiency: 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting, no made 3s in three tries, and a perfect 10-of-10 at the line that came from attacking the basket over and over. On a night when the 3 was not falling, O'Hara went to the rim instead. O'Hara added five rebounds, four of them offensive, three steals and zero turnovers in 27 minutes.

Traylor added 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, hit two 3s and dished three assists. Pangonis, who scored 30 in the opener, was quieter but just as sharp with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Pickett chipped in nine points on 4-of-5 and grabbed five rebounds. Five starters, five efficient nights. Wright State's starters combined for 84 of its 97 points.

The Owls Punched Back, Briefly

FAU opened the second half the way it closed the first, trading baskets without making a dent. Pickett scored twice in a row and Traylor buried a 3 at 18:19, and the lead was 54-30. Pangonis finished a layup at 15:37 for 62-36.

That was when the Owls finally strung something together. Carlyle hit a 3. Mason Porter-Brown converted a three-point play. Quinones made a free throw. Porter-Brown buried a 3 and followed it with a dunk. Carlyle hit another 3 at 11:40. Over roughly four minutes, FAU outscored Wright State 15-5 and cut a 26-point deficit to 67-51.

Sixteen points with more than 11 minutes left is not nothing. Wright State made sure it never became anything. O'Hara scored on a layup at 10:50 and a jumper on the next trip. Holden and Traylor went 4-of-4 at the line. O'Hara cleaned up a miss with a tip-in at 7:44. That 10-0 answer made it 77-51, and the rest was a countdown. O'Hara's layup at the 52-second mark produced the largest lead of the night, 97-68.

Carlyle Carried a Heavy Load

Carlyle was the best player in an FAU uniform by a wide margin, scoring 25 points in 39 minutes on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-6 from deep, plus a perfect 9-of-9 at the line. Porter-Brown added 13 points with four steals, and Quinones posted 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes.

Beyond that trio, FAU's offense was thin. The rest of the roster combined for 22 points. The Owls actually shot better from 3 than Wright State, 8-of-19 to 7-of-20, but they made 22 of their 54 field goals overall, a 41% night, and turned the ball over 14 times. Wright State converted those giveaways into 20 points, while FAU managed 12 off Wright State's 10 turnovers. Fast-break points went 20-11 to the Raiders.

Foul trouble did not help either. Tacko Ifaola fouled out after 15 minutes on the floor, and FAU was whistled for 21 fouls to Wright State's 18, which helped send the Raiders to the line for those 27 attempts.

What It Means

For Wright State, the early returns are loud. Two games, 199 points, two wins by 31 and 26. The Raiders are winning with balance, interior strength and free throw shooting rather than one hot hand, which is the kind of profile that travels. The bench was not needed for much tonight, scoring 13 points, but Lewis hit a 3 and finished a layup, and Milijasevic handed out three assists.

The tests get harder from here. Wright State goes on the road for the first time on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Toledo, which took a 91-61 loss at No. 6 Michigan State on Friday. That trip will say more about whether this start is a function of home cooking or something sturdier.

For FAU, a 1-1 start with a lopsided road loss is a reminder that early November schedules are not all tune-ups. The Owls will need more than Carlyle's scoring and Porter-Brown's activity to hang with teams that control the glass like this. They return home to face William & Mary on Wednesday, Nov. 11.

Wright State has made the Nutter Center a hard place to visit in the first week of the season. If the Raiders keep turning paint touches into free throws and free throws into points, the Horizon League will notice soon enough.

Read the full ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) for every line from Friday night.

Sources: ESPN box score and team stats, Wright State live stats and play-by-play, Florida Atlantic athletics schedule. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Wright State 97, Florida Atlantic 71. Two games in, the Raiders look like a team worth watching.

Photo: Joseph Craven/Wright State Athletics (file photo from Nov. 2 vs. Air Force).