SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Nov. 27, 2014) – FIU men's basketball (3-2) fell to the USC Upstate Spartans in its first game of the Spartanburg Marriott Upstate Classic on Thursday afternoon. 

Senior guard Dennis Mavin was FIU's top scorer with 14 points. Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds in 29 minutes of action, while sophomore Dominique Williams scored nine points and made his first start of the season. FIU was held to just 32.7 percent shooting from the field, while the Spartans shot at a 43.8 percent clip.

Baskets by Diaz and Williams early in the contest put FIU up 4-2 less than three minutes in. The game went back-and-forth in the early stages, as the Panthers had leads of 8-6 and then a successful put-back by junior Michael Phillip made it 12-11 with 12:38 to go in the half. Then, an 8-2 run for the Spartans would give USC Upstate an 18-14 lead with 9:22 to go.

FIU would cut the Spartan lead to 20-19 when Mavin hit his first three of the season. After ShunQuez Stephens hit a jumper for the Spartans, sophomore Jason Boswell answered with a three to tie the game up at 22 with 4:25 to go in the first half. A 7-0 run for the Spartans from there would hurt the Panthers, as FIU went into halftime trailing, 32-26.

Carrying over from the first half, FIU went a nine-minute span in the second stanza without making a field goal before senior Marco Porcher Jimenez hit a three to make it 43-32 in favor of USC Upstate. A 6-0 run for the Spartans with 4:40 to go in the game gave Upstate gave its biggest lead of the game, 20 points.

FIU is back in action on Friday, as it will take on the Wright State Raiders at 3:30 p.m.

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 FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoralprograms in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.