HARRISONBURG, Va. (Nov. 22, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team closed out the JMU Men Against Breast Cancer Classic with a heartbreaking 76-70 overtime loss to Oral Roberts University. The setback drops the Panthers to 3-2 on the year.
 
FIU placed four players in double figures led by Adrian Diaz, Cameron Smith and Jason Boswell, all with 14 points apiece. Kimar Williams added a career-high 11 points in the loss.
 
Diaz also grabbed 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the year, and the 10^th of his career. Smith's 14 points were also a career-high.
 
With the Golden Eagles leading 62-59, Williams sent the game to overtime after hitting the front-end of two free throws with 17 seconds remaining in regulation. He then got his own rebound, on the missed attempt, and converted a driving baseline layup with 14 seconds on the clock to knot the game at 62-all.
 
The Panthers had a chance to win the game, only to miss a lay-up and tip-in with less than two seconds left.
 
Oral Roberts took control of the extra session scoring the first seven points to take a nine-point lead, 71-62, with 1:50 left, before Boswell hit two free throws with 55 seconds on the clock.
 
Ray Rodriguez cut the Golden Eagles' lead to four, 73-69, with 34 seconds left, but the Panthers would not get any closer.
 
Early on, the Panthers shut down the Golden Eagles for much of the first half, offensively, holding Oral Roberts to just 26.5 percent shooting (9-for-34) from the field, and 1-of-11 (11.1 percent) from three-point range.
 
On the offensive side of the floor, FIU used an 8-0 run, lasting 4:10, to open the game up in the first stanza. During that stretch, the Panthers would take their biggest lead of the game, 27-17, on a three-point shot by Jason Boswell with 3:33 left before the break, for three of his eight first half points.
 
FIU would eventually take a 29-22 lead into the locker room at the break.
 
The Golden Eagles would find their shooting touch to start the second half, hitting 8-of-its-12 shots to start the stanza, and take their first lead, since leading 2-0, on an Albert Owens dunk with 12:15 left in regulation to make the score 41-40.
Oral Roberts would take – what would be at that time – its biggest lead of the game, 48-43 with 9:33 left, before Eric Nottage got the Panthers back even, at 48-all, with a deep three-point shot with 8:28 on the clock.
 
FIU would cut the lead to one-point, 60-59, with 51 seconds left on a three-point shot by William, but the Panthers could not get over the top and take the lead.
 
FIU would finish the game shooting 40.3 percent (25-for-62) from the field and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from behind the three-point arc.
 
The Panthers will return home to Lime Court at FIU Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 25, when it faces LIU Brooklyn at 7 p.m.
 
For men's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow @FIUHoops 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 at the FIU Football Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.