Box Score HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (March 10, 2013) – For the first time in the program's history, the FIU men's basketball team (18-13) advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Finals with a 61-57 win over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (28-5) on Sunday, March 10, at Summit Arena.
 
For the second-straight night, sophomore Deric Hill was a huge factor in the Panthers' victory, scoring a career-high 16 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the floor and 10-of-11 shooting from the free-throw line. The Miami native notched a team-high six assists and a game-high four steals.
 
Senior Cameron Bell added 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting, hitting some key 3-pointers in the contest. The West Bloomfield, Mich., native grabbed four rebounds and had a huge block of a Raymond Cintron 3-pointer in the waning moments of the game. Junior Malik Smith scored 14 points, draining 3-of-6 shots from beyond the arc. The Boston, Mass., native has recorded 11 treys in this year's tournament, two shy of tying the championship record of 13 held by John Knox of Jacksonville (1997). Smith hit two clutch free-throws with seven seconds left to seal the victory for FIU.
 
FIU, which held the lead in all but the first two minutes of action, shot 33.3 percent from the floor (18-of-54) and shot 31.8 percent from 3-point range (7-of-22). The Panthers converted 81.8 percent from the free-throw line (18-of-22) led by Hill's 10-of-11 from the charity stripe.
 
The Panthers held the Blue Raiders to 37.5 percent shooting from the field (21-of-56) and allowed just three 3-pointers by a Middle Tennessee team that finished the night shooting 20.0 percent from downtown (3-of-15).
 
The Blue Raiders held a 43-39 edge on the boards and a 24-18 advantage in points in the paint. The Panthers scored 24 points off 13 Middle Tennessee turnovers. 
 
Leading by as many as 11 points, FIU held off Middle Tennessee as the Blue Raiders could only get as close as two points before Smith hit the two free throws to ice the game.
 
With the win, FIU notched its 18th win of the season – the fourth-most in school history – and increased the Panthers' SBC Tournament record to 9-13 all-time. 
 
The win snapped the nation's longest winning streak of 17 games as the Panthers handed the Blue Raiders their first loss since Jan. 3 (66-60 OT at Arkansas State). It also snapped an eight-game losing skid for the Panthers to the Blue Raiders and improved FIU to 1-1 all-time in the SBC Tournament versus Middle Tennessee.
The Panthers will take on the winner of the Arkansas State-WKU semifinal contest in the SBC Finals on Monday, March 11. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.
 
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