BROOKLYN, N.Y.  (Dec. 18, 2014) – The FIU men's basketball team (6-5) fell to LIU Brooklyn by a score of 69-58 on Thursday night at Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets. The Panthers trailed by as many as 15 points, but rallied and would take a four-point lead in the second half. LIU Brooklyn finished the game on a 30-15 run though to earn the victory.

Senior guard Dennis Mavin led the way for the Panthers, scoring 12 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Senior Marco Porcher Jimenez tallied 11 points and made three from downtown, while junior Tashawn Desir scored 11 points and was 5-for-7 from the field. Junior Daviyon Draper scored nine points while senior Kris Gulley netted seven.

The Blackbirds got off to a fast start, as Desir netted FIU's only field goal and LIU Brooklyn jumped out to a 10-2 lead with 15:06 to go in the first half. Mavin connected on his first bucket at the 14:55 mark, but the Blackbirds sank two from the line and hit a three to take a 15-4 lead at the 13:53 mark to force an FIU timeout. From there, LIU Brooklyn used a 9-5 run to increase its lead to 24-9 with 10:09 to go.

Draper scored on a baseline dunk to begin a 5-0 run for the Panthers. After redshirt junior Adrian Diaz sank one of two free throws, Desir scored on a jumper to cut the Blackbird lead 24-16. However, five-straight points for LIU Brooklyn increased the lead to 13 with under four minutes to go. The Panthers would rally back though to close out the first half, which was highlighted by two threes by Porcher Jimenez to make it 30-25 in favor of LIU Brooklyn heading into halftime.

FIU jumped out to a strong start in the second half, as Gulley provided a spark for the Panthers. After scoring on a putback, he stole the inbound pass and found Mavin for the fastbreak layup. Then on the ensuing offensive possession, Gulley was found wide open in the corner for a three to knot the game up at 32. The Dallas, Texas native would steal another inbounds pass and dunk it home to give FIU the lead. Gulley scored seven points and recorded two steals in the first four minutes of the second half.

Trailing 37-36 at the 15:05 mark, Desir stole a pass and took it all the way to get the lead back for FIU. The Blackbirds answered with a bucket at 14:15, but the back-and-forth action continued as Porcher Jimenez drained a three to make it 41-39 with 14:45 to go in the contest. After getting a stop on the defensive end, Desir found sophomore Dominique Williams in the lane for a wide-open layup for his first basket of the game. The Blackbirds scored the next five points to take over the lead and force an FIU timeout at the 11:33 mark.

FIU retook the lead on a highlight-reel field goal in the lane for Desir. A game with nine lead changes up to the 10:59 mark had another when LIU Brooklyn's Elvar Fridriksson nailed two threes to give his squad a five-point lead. The Blackbirds controlled the pace for the next few minutes afterwards, increasing their lead to 58-46 with under seven minutes to go.

Draper scored seven of the next nine points in the game to cut the LIU Brooklyn lead to 60-53 with 4:18 to go. The Blackbirds answered though with a 5-0 run to make it 65-53. Diaz made a basket in the lane to cut it to 10 and Desir nailed a three to make it a seven-point game. The Blackbirds went on to score the final four points, resulting in a 69-58 final.

FIU is back in action this Sunday as it travels to Hartford for a 2 p.m. contest with the Hawks.

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 doctoral programs 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/.