Box Score MOBILE, Ala. (Jan. 27, 2013) – The FIU men's basketball team (11-9, 6-5 SBC) fell to the South Alabama Jaguars (11-8, 8-3 SBC), 60-58, on Sunday afternoon at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala.
Four Panthers scored in double-figures, including freshman
Jerome Frink and junior
Malik Smith who led FIU with 12 points each. Frink shot 6-of-9 from the floor and led the Panthers with seven rebounds. Smith notched his 16th game of 10-or-more points, hitting four shots, including two 3-pointers versus the Jaguars. Also scoring in double-figures were junior
Tymell Murphy (11 points) and redshirt sophomore
Marco Porcher Jimenez (10 points).
FIU, which trailed at the half, 31-22, out-scored the Jaguars, 16-6, in the first seven minutes of the second half to take a 38-37 lead, following a free throw by Murphy with 13:27 on the clock. The Panthers extended their lead to 45-39 after Porcher Jimenez hit a 3-pointer with 11:40 left to play. However, USA chipped away at the Panther lead, tying the score, 51-51, as South Alabama's Dre Connor made a layup at the 4:56 mark. The scored teetered back and forth until a trey by Barrington Stevens gave USA a lead it would not give up.
The Panthers did have one final chance to tie the game. Down by two points, 60-58, and with 6.9 seconds on the clock, FIU inbounded the ball at midcourt. But, a turnover with two seconds left sealed the victory for the Jaguars and snapped FIU's three-game winning streak.
FIU finished the contest shooting 39.2 percent from the floor (20-of-51) and 23.8 percent from beyond the arc (5-of-21). The Panthers hit 13-of-17 from the free-throw line (76.5 percent). South Alabama made 40.0 percent of its shots from the field (20-of-50) while converting 6-of-17 (35.3 percent) from 3-point range and 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Jaguars held a 37-32 edge in rebounding while both teams registered 24 points in the paint. The Panthers committed 17 turnovers, resulting in 23 points for South Alabama. FIU forced 16 USA turnovers which turned into 12 points for the Panthers.
The loss drops FIU to 5-7 on the road this season and marked just the second loss this month for the Panthers (7-2).
FIU will next head home to host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at U.S. Century Bank Arena on Thursday, Jan. 31. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 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/.
