Box Score Fort Myers, Fla. (Dec. 13, 2012) – The FIU men's basketball team (3-4) suffered a 76-73 loss at Florida Gulf Coast (7-4) on Thursday evening at Alico Arena.

Trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, FIU battled back to pull within striking distance with under a minute to play. Junior Malik Smith drained a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left on the clock. On the ensuing possession, the Panthers forced a turnover with a chance to take the lead. Smith took a jumper from the free-throw line, however, the Boston native's attempt missed resulting in an Eagles' rebound. Forced to foul, FIU fell behind by three following a pair of made free throws by FGCU. With 5.2 seconds left, the Panthers inbounded the ball. A pair of passes up the court found senior Tola Akomolafe, who attempted the game-tying trey as time expired. However, the shot rimmed out, resulting in the three-point loss for the Panthers.  

FIU was led by senior Gaby Belardo, who scored a season-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go along with his career-best-tying seven assists. Also scoring in double-figures were juniorTymell Murphy (15 points), Smith (14 points) and freshman Jerome Frink (10 points). Frink also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for his second-career
double-double.

For the game, FIU shot 41.7 percent from the floor (25-of-60) and converted just 56.5 percent (13-of-23) of its attempts from the charity stripe. The Panthers drained 10, 3-pointers on 34.5 percent shooting from downtown. Florida Gulf Coast shot 55.6 percent from the field (30-of-54), scoring 51 points in the paint.

FIU entered halftime trailing the Eagles, 43-31. FGCU finished the first half shooting 54.5 percent from the floor compared to the Panthers' 35.7-percent shooting from the field (10-of-28). Twenty-seven of the Eagles' 43 first-half points were scored in the paint. A scoring drought by FIU in the final 3:48 seconds resulted in a double-digit deficit at the half.

On the night, FGCU held a slight edge on the boards, 35-34, while FIU forced 15 Eagle turnovers resulting in 24 points.

The Panthers will next head to Louisville, Ky., to take on the Louisville Cardinals on Wednesday, Dec. 19. The game will mark the 11th Annual Billy Minardi Classic and will be
broadcast on the BIG EAST Network as well as ESPN3. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET.

Fans are encouraged to follow @FIUMensBBall on Twitter, and "Like" FIU men's basketball on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/FIU-Mens-Basketball) for the latest Panther basketball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and
Instagram (FIUathletics). 
 
About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.