LOUISVILLE, Ky.  (Dec. 5, 2014) – FIU men's basketball (5-4) fell to the No. 5/5 Louisville Cardinals on Friday night, 82-57, at the KFC YUM! Center. The Cardinals shot a season-high 57.1 percent from the field to help secure the victory and improve to 7-0 on the season.

Leading the way for FIU was senior Dennis Mavin, who connected on seven field goals to score 15 points while grabbing three rebounds in 31 minutes of action. Senior Marco Porcher Jimenez scored 13 points off the bench and made his first four three-point attempts. Porcher-Jimenez also connected on a four-point play late in the game. Junior Tashawn Desir matched his career-high in assists with seven, while tallying seven points and grabbing two steals.

FIU jumped out to a good start and had a lead for the 8:15 of the game. On the Panthers' opening possession, junior Adrian Diaz was found wide open in the lane by Desir and had an easy layup to make it 2-0. Following a steal by Desir on the other end, he found Mavin on the fast break layup to give FIU a 4-0 lead not even one minute in. The Cardinals cut the lead to 4-3, but sophomore Domnique Williams laid one in to make it 6-3. Desir extended the lead to 8-3 on a layup at the 13:38 mark to force Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino to use a timeout. The Cardinals connected on a field goal out of the timeout, but Mavin answered with a jumper to make it 10-6 with 12:29 to go.

From there, the Panther lead evaporated at the Cardinals strung together a 16-0 run that would allow them to take a 24-10 lead at the 5:51 mark in the first half. Mavin cut the lead to 12 and then another Desir layup would knock the lead down to 10. A three for the Cardinal's Chris Jones got the lead back up to 13 and Louisville would increase it to as much as 15 in the first half. FIU strung together a 7-0 run at the tail end of the half on a layup by junior Daviyon Draper, a layup by Mavin and a three by Desir to shrink the lead to eight. However, UofL scored the final five points to make it a 36-23 lead going into halftime.

The Cardinals came out of the locker room and put together a 9-2 run to take a 45-25 lead with 16:57 to go. The Panthers would trim it to 18, but then another run of 8-0 for the Cardinals increased the lead to 53-27. Louisville's biggest lead was achieved at the 11:52 mark to make it 61-31.

From there, sophomore Jason Boswell trimmed the lead on a made free throw and then made a layup on FIU's next possession. Porcher Jimenez hit the first of his four threes to cap off a mini 6-0 run to shrink the UofL lead. Williams cut the lead to 21 on a free throw at the 8:41 mark, Then with 4:14 to go, Porcher Jimenez made another three from the corner, was fouled, made the free throw to successfully complete the four-point play. On the Panthers' ensuing possession, the Spain native hit another trey to make it 80-57 with 2:05 to go.

The Panthers will have nine days off before heading to Fort Myers, Fla. on Dec. 14 to face Florida Gulf Coast. Tip is set for 2 p.m. and the game can be viewed on ESPN3.  

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/.