MIAMI (Jan. 15, 2015)— The FIU men's basketball team (9-8, 2-2 C-USA) erased an 18-point deficit on Thursday night, as the Panthers topped the Marshall Thundering Herd, 66-62, in a thrilling come-from-behind overtime victory.
 
Senior Dennis Mavin paced the Panthers' offense with 19 points (6-of-13), including six-straight in the second half to help FIU erase an 18-point deficit. Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz utilized timely scoring to help the Panthers tie the game and give FIU its first lead of the night late in the second half, as the Miami native netted 12 points (5-of-9). Junior Daviyon Draper and sophomore Dominique Williams also finished with double-digit scoring performances with 10 points apiece. Diaz led FIU on the boards with eight, while three other Panthers tied for second with seven rebounds each (Draper, Williams and senior Kris Gulley).
 
The Thundering Herd capitalized off of 10 made three-pointers in the first half, sinking its first three and forcing FIU to call an early timeout with 16:07 to-go.  Senior Marco Porcher Jimenez hit a jumper immediately out of the timeout, cutting the Panthers' deficit to 11-4. Marshall sank two of its next three treys before Mavin converted an old-fashion three-point play, making the score 17-9 with 11 minutes to play. Mavin then collected a loose ball off a turnover in Marshall's zone and dished it to Porcher Jimenez, cutting it to 22-16 at the six-minute marker. The Herd responded by scoring on its next two possessions, forcing FIU to burn its second timeout of the half. The contest entered halftime with Marshall leading by its biggest then-largest lead of the night, 36-21.
 
The Panthers opened the second half with an 8-2 run, and upped it to 10-2 following a block on the Herd's shot by Diaz. Gulley finished the play on the other end with a layup, making it a seven-point game at 38-31 with 16:36 to play. FIU quickly forced a turnover on Marshall's next possession, forcing an early second half timeout for the Herd. Marshall was held without a score for nearly six minutes midway through the half, before a tip-in under the hoop gave the Herd a seven-point lead with 12:55 left in the game.
 
After Marshall began to create separation again, Mavin made it a one-score game, as the Gainesville, Fla., native scored six-straight for the Panthers, including two free-throws, to make it 47-45 with 8:15 to play. Diaz hit a jumper under the basket at the 6:38 mark, tying the game at 49-all before he gave FIU its first lead of the night 90 seconds later. With both teams trading leads in the final five minutes, Williams drained a key three-pointer with 3:28 to play, spotting the Panthers a two-point lead.
 
The Herd was held to just two three-pointers in the second half, but hit a crucial on with 57 seconds remaining, pulling Marshall within one-point. Draper hit one-of-two from the line to give FIU back a two-point lead with 13 seconds to play, forcing Marshall to call a timeout with the ball in its zone. On the last play of the game, Marshall's Ryan Taylor hit a layup to send to game to overtime.
 
Draper hit a fade-away jumper a little over 90 seconds into the overtime period. With Marshall ahead by one-point with just over one minute remaining, Diaz put the Panthers back ahead, 63-62, with a put-back dunk. Diaz sealed the deal with a last-second block on the Herd's attempt, giving Gulley the breakaway dunk on the other end off the loose ball.
 
FIU returns to Lime Court at FIU Arena on Saturday, as the Panthers play host to the WKU Hilltoppers. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

GAME NOTES: With the win, FIU now has 400 on-court victories in program history…The Panthers pick up their first win over Marshall, improving to 1-2 all-time against the Thundering Herd…With the win, FIU improves to 24-33 all-time in overtime games and 12-13 at home in those games…FIU had four players score in double-figures for the first time this season (Mavin 19, Diaz 12, Williams 10, Draper 10)…With 19 points, Dennis Mavin posted his 50^th career double-digit scoring game…Mavin's team-leading 19 points marks the 13^th time in 17 games this season that Mavin has led the team in scoring…With eight rebounds, Adrian Diaz eclipsed the 200 rebound mark for his career, as he now has 204 boards.

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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/.