After being tied for second place through two rounds, men’s golf came up short in the final round Sunday at the FAU Slomin Autism Invitational in Lake Worth, Fla.

The Huskies (291, 292, 299, 882) finished tied for fifth with the Hartford Hawks and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. The Central Florida Knights (279, 293, 291, 863) came out on top and were 13 strokes ahead of the second-place Connecticut Huskies (294, 289, 293,876).

“I like a lot of what we’re doing with our long game all that is coming along nicely,” said head coach Tom Porten. “The last thing to come along is our short game, and that’s the same with a lot of the northern teams coming out of winter. … Overall, fifth out of 20 teams is pretty good. It backed up what we did in Talis Park a couple weeks ago.”

Sophomore Joo-Young Lee (71, 73, 70 [career-best round], 214) was the Huskies’ top golfer over the weekend. Lee was tied for fifth overall, which ties him with junior Jordan Wetsch for the best individual finish by a Huskie this season. Central Florida’s Ryan Stovash (68, 67, 73, 208) finished first.

“I think Joo is really coming into own as a player,” Porten said. “He drove the ball very well on a golf course that you have to put the in the right position off the tee. He was excellent in his short game.”

Despite weather delays that interrupted play, the Huskies had a strong start to the tournament as they scored 291 in the first round Friday. Sophomores Raphael Denais (71, 76, 77, 224) and Lee finished the round at even, while junior Nick Huggins (72, 74, 79, 225) finished the round just one-over par and totaled four birdies.

“We handled the first round — and even for the second round for [the] most part — pretty well as a team,” Porten said. “There are a lot of different stretches of holes that are easy and stretches of holes that are hard. I thought the team did a good job handling that on the first few days.”

After struggling in the first round Friday, Wetsch (82, 69, 74, 225) shot a season-best 69 to help carry the Huskies through the second round Saturday. While a pair of bogies in the final two holes of the third round derailed his score, he still managed to finish the round at just three-over.

Heading into the round tied for second, the Huskies weren’t able to keep up the pace as they ended their day with a score of 299, eight strokes higher than Friday’s low of 291.

“Today, we just couldn’t make any putts,” Porten said. “We couldn’t convert any birdie opportunities like we did the first two days. It was a combination of our ability to make putts consistently. It was still a very positive tournament for us. Any time you’re close to the lead, you want to play your best on the last day, but we just didn’t do that.”