NORFOLK, Va.  (Jan. 29, 2015) – Following a 12-day stretch without a game, the FIU men's basketball team fell to the Old Dominion Monarchs, 71-56, at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on Thursday night. The Panthers drop to 0-2 all-time against ODU.

Leading the way for the Panthers on the scoring end was junior Adrian Diaz, who tallied 17 points to go along with five rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal in 38 minutes of action. Senior guard Dennis Mavin recorded his second career-double-double, as he scored 16 points and pulled in 10 rebounds while dishing out four assists. Sophomore Dominique Williams and junior Ray Rodriguez rounded out the top scorers for FIU, scoring six points each. Rodriguez made two shots from three-point range.

For the game, FIU shot 41.7 percent from the field while allowing the Monarchs to shoot 50 percent, well above FIU's defensive season average. The Monarchs were strong in the paint all night, outscoring the Panthers 47-30 in that department. ODU also scored 21 points off turnovers.

The Panthers jumped out to an 8-5 advantage, as Diaz scored four of FIU's first eight points, while Mavin and junior Daviyon Draper chipped in the other two. ODU answered, scoring 11 of the next 17 points to jump out to a 19-13 advantage with 7:34 to go in the first half. FIU shrunk the deficit to four points on baskets by Mavin and Williams, cutting the score to 21-17 with 6:31 to go. The Monarchs used a 7-2 run to increase the lead to nine, as they would eventually reach their high-water mark in the half of a 10-point lead with 1:05 remaining. Diaz closed out the first stanza with a layup to make it 34-26 in favor of ODU.

The Monarchs opened the second half scoring six of the first eight points to hold their biggest lead of the game on the Panthers, 41-28. After Mavin successfully converted a three-point play, Diaz slammed one home to shrink the deficit to eight points. ODU's Trey Freeman made a layup on the other end, but senior Marco Porcher Jimenez answered with a three to cut the lead to seven. A put-back by senior Kris Gulley cut the lead to five and FIU would knock it down to a 45-41 ODU lead on a Mavin three with 12:06 to go.

From there, the Monarchs created some separation, going on a 9-3 run to hold a 52-43 edge. Rodriguez hit two-straight threes to knock it down to six, but that was as close as FIU would get. The Monarchs closed the game on a 15-7 run. 
FIU will close out its road trip on Charlotte on Saturday. Tip time is slated for 7 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 schoolsthat 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/.