Box Score MIAMI (Feb. 7, 2013) – The FIU men's basketball team (13-10, 8-6 SBC) picked up its eighth home victory of the season in an 84-65 rout of the Florida Atlantic Owls (11-14, 6-8 SBC) on Thursday, Feb. 7, at U.S. Century Bank Arena. 
 
Four Panthers reached double-figures in scoring, including junior Malik Smith who poured in 19 points, shooting 6-of-14 from the floor. Also reaching double-digits in scoring were junior Tymell Murphy (13 pts.), freshman Jerome Frink (12 pts.) and senior Cameron Bell (10 pts.).
 
Murphy notched his 14th-straight game of 10-or-more points, while grabbing a team-high nine rebounds and a career-high six steals. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native led the Panthers in takeaways as the team notched 15, marking the third-straight game of 10-or-more steals for FIU.
 
Frink recorded his 14th double-digit scoring game of the season, while Bell registered a career-high five assists.
 
Florida Atlantic took an early lead on the Panthers through the first eight minutes of the game. A layup by Murphy with 12:18 left in the first half tied the score a 14-14. FIU took its first lead of the game, 16-14, after Frink made a pair of free throws at the 11:08 mark. Each team exchanged buckets as a trey by Smith gave the Panthers a 19-16 lead with 8:55 on the clock. It would be a lead that FIU would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
 
The Panthers entered halftime with a 21-point advantage, 49-28. The 49 points in the first half were a season high for FIU.
 
FAU came out the second half looking to chip away at the Panthers' lead, coming within 13 points following a layup by Jordan McCoy with 14:46 left to play. However, FIU increased its lead by as many as 25 to go on for its second-straight, victory of 19-or-more points over the Owls.
 
The Panthers finished the night, shooting 47.2 percent (34-of-72) from the floor and 30.0 percent (6-of-20) from 3-point range. FIU held a 47-43 edge in rebounding on Florida Atlantic and out-scored the Owls, 52-32 in points in the paint.
 
The Owls were held to 38.0 percent (27-of-71) shooting from the floor and shot just 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from beyond the arc. 
 
FIU forced 22 Florida Atlantic turnovers, resulting in 33 points for the Panthers.
 
The win improves FIU to 17-14 all-time versus FAU and gives the Panthers their eighth conference victory of the season (second-most SBC wins since joining the league in 1998-1999).
 
FIU will next travel to Denton, Texas, to take on the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday, Feb. 9. Game time is scheduled for 8:00 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/.