TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  (Dec. 29, 2014) – The FIU men's basketball team (7-6) picked up a 76-55 victory over Florida A&M on Monday night at the Al Lawson Center. With the victory, FIU improves to 5-0 this season against teams inside the State of Florida.

FIU shot 53.6 percent from the field for the game, shooting 15-for-28 in both halves. The Panthers made a season-high nine shots from beyond the three-point arc, shooting at a 37.5 percent clip for the game. FIU outscored the Rattlers 32-18 on points in the paint and 18-5 on points off turnovers. The Panthers also scored 27 bench points, marking the sixth time this season FIU has had at least 20 bench points in a game.

Redshirt junior Adrain Diaz led the way for the Panthers scoring 19 points, with 15 of them coming in the second half, and grabbing seven rebounds. Junior Dennis Mavin had a nice outing as well, scoring 16 points, dishing out five assists and grabbing two steals in 35 minutes of action. Mavin and senior Marco Porcher Jimenez each made three shots from beyond the three-point arc.

Diaz scored the first two points of the game and senior Kris Gulley scored on a putback as the Panthers and Rattlers were knotted up at four. Mavin connected on a three to give FIU a 7-4 lead heading into the first media timeout. Junior Tashawn Desir converted on his first field goal of the game to increase the lead to five points. FIU held FAMU for 4:35 without a field goal until the Rattlers scored at the 12:29 mark. Redshirt sophomore Ray Rodriguez drained his first three at the 12:45 mark and Diaz hit a short jumper to make it 14-7 FIU with 11:53 remaining in the first stanza.

The Rattlers used three-straight baskets to cap off a 6-0 run and cut FIU's lead to just one point, 14-13. The Panthers responded though with five-straight points as sophomore Jason Boswell tallied a three from the baseline with 8:05 remaining in the half and Mavin followed with two, putting the Panthers ahead by seven. Then leading 25-16, FIU closed the half on a 13-2 run, which came on two three-pointers each by Mavin and Porcher Jimenez, while sophomore Dominique Williams was responsible for the other four points. The Panthers led 38-19 in the first half, holding FAMU to just 26.1 percent shooting from the field. FIU shot 53.6 percent in the first half.

The Rattlers came out and scored the first four points in the second half before Desir put the Panthers on the board at the 16:57 mark. FIU connected on two-straight threes by Porcher Jimenez and Rodriguez to cap off an 8-0 run as the Panthers led 46-23. FAMU scored nine of the next 11 points though to shrink the FIU lead to 48-32 with 11:54 remaining in regulation. At the 8:53 mark, junior Daviyon Draper successfully converted a three-point play to make it 55-47.

Diaz scored the next eight FIU points to make it 63-44 with 5:09 to go in the game. From there, FIU outscored the Rattlers 13-11 to close out the game, highlighted by a three-point play by Diaz and the first two points of freshman Hassan Hussein's career.

FIU is off for the next six days before heading to Florida Atlantic on Jan. 4 to open up Conference USA action. Tip time in Boca Raton is slated for 2:00 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).

#####  

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/.