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Evans Post-Game Quotes
MIAMI (Jan. 16, 2014) - In its inaugural Conference USA game on Lime Court at U.S. Century Bank Arena, the FIU men's basketball team (9-9, 1-2 C-USA) fell to the Old Dominion Monarchs, 52-36, Thursday night.
Senior
Tymell Murphy led the Panthers with 20 points, going 8-of-13 from the field and collecting a team-high six steals and three blocks. Redshirt senior
Rakeem Buckles added seven points (2-of-9) and a team-high five rebounds, while Murphy added four boards. Freshman
Dominique Williams added two blocks.
ODU opened the game 12-3 run and held the Panthers scoreless for seven minutes. Murphy drew a foul off a layup and completed the three-point play, trimming the deficit to seven, 14-7, with 9:37 to play in the half. Murphy found himself involved in the action again at the 4-minute mark when he sank the team's first trey of the night. The Monarchs carried a 29-14 lead into the break.
Murphy led the Panthers through 20 minutes with eight points (3-of-5), as Williams had a team-high three boards. FIU was 5-of-17 from the floor (29.4 percent) and 3-of-8 in free-throws (3-of-8). ODU held a slight edge in rebounds, 19-15, as each team tallied two blocks apiece in the first half.
FIU started the second half scoring on both of its first two opportunities. Junior
Marco Porcher Jimenez then sank a trey, which was followed by a pivotal Buckle's block on a Monarchs attempted dunk with 15 minutes to play. Murphy took the pass coat-to-coast for an easy layup, and had a similar fate on the following play due to an ODU turnover, which forced the Monarchs' to call a timeout with the score 36-27. ODU then went on a 12-4 run and was able to keep the Panthers at bay in the final five minutes.
The Panthers ended the night shooting 31 percent (13-of-42), while going 50 percent (7-of-14) from the line.
The Panthers next host East Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tipoff from Lime Court at U.S. Century Bank Arena is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
Single game tickets can be purchased by calling the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME, or by logging onto www.FIUSports.com.
Fans are encouraged to follow @FIUMensBBall on Twitter, and “Like” FIU men's basketball on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/FIUMensBBall) 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).
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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 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida¹s 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. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visithttp://www.fiu.edu/.
