DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – LMU men's basketball suffered its first loss of the season on Monday night in the opening game of the Sunshine Slam. The Lions could not overcome a second half deficit in the team's first game of the MTE, moving to 6-1 on the year with a 76-65 loss to Florida Atlantic.
 
LMU's largest lead of the game was one point, which occurred three different times in the first two and a half minutes of the first half. 
 
FAU built a lead as large as a dozen in the opening half before a 12-2 run pulled the Lions within a possession. The comeback bid to pull within two started with back-to-back layups from Rokas Jocius and Jalen Shelley. After a hoop by the Owls, Jocius hit a three and Shelley followed with the next five points to bring the score to 27-25 with 6:11 to play in the half. Jocius finished with a season-high seven points and Shelley led the team with 15 points.
 
Florida Atlantic took a seven-point lead into intermission, 41-34.
 
The Lions scored the first six points coming out of the locker room to make it a one-point game, 41-40. AJ Thomas' steal and layup pulled the Lions within one and forced a timeout less than three minutes into the game. Thomas scored in double-figures against a Division I opponent for the first time in his career with 10 points.
 
One more push by the Lions took a double-digit game into a two-point game with a 9-0 run from the 13:14 mark of the second to the 9:43 mark. Nakyel Shelton bookended the run with a pair of threes and Myron "MJ" Amey, Jr. completed a three-point play in the middle of the run. The 53-51 game was quickly reversed as FAU scored the next eight unanswered to rebuild their double-digit lead. Shelton led the bench with 11 points after going 3-for-4 from three.
 
Rodney Brown tied his career-high with six rebounds and led the team with three assists.
 
Florida Atlantic scored 76 points on 45 percent shooting and 10 made threes. Defensively, the Owls grabbed 42 rebounds and blocked six shots. All five of those categories are opponent highs this season against the Lions. LMU's 65 points and 40 percent shooting were both season lows.
 
With the result, LMU will play Ohio in the first game of the bracket. The game will tip at 5:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM PT on CBS Sports Network. The two programs met once before, in the 2018 Jamaica Classic final. The Lions won the championship in that MTE with a 65-56 win over the Bobcats.
 
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