MIAMI (Nov. 30, 2015) – FIU men's basketball standout
Adrian Diaz had one of his biggest games of the young season for the Panthers. The Miami native had six blocked shots against Stetson on Monday night – giving him 130 for his career – to become the school's all-time leader in rejections, surpassing Dwight Stewart (1988-93) and his 126 blocks. In addition, Diaz tallied a season-high 24 points, and nine rebounds, but that wasn't enough as FIU dropped a tough 81-75 loss to the Hatters on Lime Court at FIU Arena. It was the Panthers' first non-conference home loss since an 85-56 setback to No. 6 Louisville on Dec. 21, 2013.
Diaz, who finished the night shooting 12-of-14 from the field (85.7 percent), was joined by three other FIU players as double-figure scorers.
Daviyon Draper scored 15 points while
Donte McGill and
Eric Nottage added 12 and 11 points, respectively in the loss. Nottage also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
On the night, the Panthers (4-3) shot an impressive 50.7 percent (34-of-67), but allowed Stetson (3-4) to shoot at a 53.8 percent clip (14-of-26) from the field in the second half. The Hatters also shot 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from behind the three-point arc in the final 20 minutes of play.
FIU took its biggest lead of the game on a Draper layup with 4:14 left in the first half, making the score 39-21. Stetson, however, closed out the first stanza on a 16-2 run to cut the Panthers' lead to four, 41-37 at the intermission.
Stetson took its first lead of the game, 45-44, on a Divine Myles layup with just over 17 minutes left in the contest. The teams would exchange leads for the better part of 12 minutes when Diaz gave the Panthers their final advantage of the night, 64-63, on a dunk off one of a Nottage assist with just over five minutes left.
The Panthers would get the game tied three more times down the stretch, but could never regain the lead.
FIU controlled the paint outscoring the Hatters 48-35 in the lane, however committed 14 turnovers that led to 20 Stetson points.
The Panthers hit the court again on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. when it faces Elon University out of the Colonial Athletic Association. That contest will be the second game of a women's and men's doubleheader. The FIU women's team will tipoff the night against UMass Lowell at 5 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/.
