BOCA RATON — No. 24 Florida Atlantic handed University of Alabama-Birmingham its first conference loss of the year on Sunday afternoon, downing the Blazers 86-73.

The Owls (13-4, 2-1) saw Johnell Davis go for their opening 10 points and finished the first half with 19. Davis led all scorers with 30 points, and added eight rebounds, shooting 10-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-6 from deep.

Vlad Goldin was his typically efficient self and tallied 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting with five rebounds and one block. Jalen Gaffney finished with 10 points, seven boards and four assists.

Behind Davis’ first-half output, the Owls maintained a 20-point lead for most of the second half, until the Blazers (10-6, 2-1) put together a few runs that trimmed the lead to just eight points with four minutes to play.

From there, FAU tightened the screws defensively and ended the afternoon with a 13-point win.

“Overall, I felt like we had a really, really solid first half,” said head coach Dusty May. “In the second half, we got a little bit loose, and UAB took advantage of that, but overall pleased with where we are in mid-January. Still not playing the type of basketball we need to play, but we’re still evolving as a team, as a group. And our goals are to develop great habits that will translate in March.”

Here are three takeaways from the Owls’ win over UAB.

Davis’ first-half charge too much for UAB to overcome

The Owls started the first half firing on all cylinders, thanks to Davis’ scoring barrage to start the game. Davis attacked the gaps in UAB’s zone looks with purpose, and dumped in the first 10 FAU points in the first five minutes. He finished the half with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting while going 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

“I try to attack every game the same,” Davis said. “I saw them go in early, and my team just kept finding me after that.”

Davis’ strong first half spurred a 52% shooting effort from the Owls in the first half. They also dominated the boards in the first half against a big Blazer squad, grabbing 25 first-half rebounds to UAB’s 13. The big start saw the Owls end the half up 43-24.

The two squads traded blows for most of the second half. But the Owls’ first-half cushion was enough to hold a 20-point lead for most of the second half.

Effective defense kept the Blazers at bay

The Blazers have size and length. They’re also well-coached, and their half-court sets were fluid, efficient and opened up solid looks.

But the Owls, who switch virtually everything, stifled those sets. Active hands and a strong effort on the boards propelled a 19-point lead in the first half as UAB went 0-8 from behind the arc and 10-of-32 from the floor.

It was more of the same in the second half. By the final buzzer, FAU had forced eight turnovers and held the Blazers to just 39% from the field and 19% from deep.

Yaxel Lendeborg, who averaged 23 points and 15 rebounds in the Blazers’ last three contests, finished with just eight points and three rebounds.

“Anyone who follows college basketball closely knows that JuCo players typically take off in December or January, there’s an adjustment period,” May said. “[Johnell] had him one-on-one, I thought he did a great job of getting him off his spots and not letting him do what he wanted to. It was a great effort, I thought we had good gaps, we were aware, but more than anything else I thought it was really solid individual defense.”

Another week in the polls for FAU

After being handed their second loss to an unranked opponent in as many weeks, the Owls needed a lot to happen this week in order to stay inside the top 25. Specifically, they needed to end the week with a resounding conference win while essentially every other top-25 team took an upset loss of their own.

That’s exactly what happened.

With Sunday afternoon’s win, FAU can take a deep breath. Back-to-back conference wins while poll-mates took losses should alleviate the pressure of the No. 24 spot. For now, it’s about finishing conference play strong.

The Owls host Wichita State (8-8, 0-3 in the AAC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: college basketball FAU florida atlantic UAB johnell davis