MIAMI (Dec. 29, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team closed out the non-conference portion of its schedule, on Tuesday, with a 65-45 win over Florida A&M University (FAMU). The win is the second straight for the Panthers who improve to 6-7 on the year.
Elmo Stephen scored a career-high 18 points, on 6-of-10 shooting from the field – all coming from three-point range. His six three-point shots made also marked a career-high.
Joining Stephen in double figures was
Adrian Diaz with 13 points and
Donte McGill with 12 points.
Cameron Smith grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, and Diaz rejected three shots in the win.
Florida A&M (4-10) scored the first basket of the game, but that would the only time during the contest that they would lead, as the Panthers took control and never let go.
After FAMU cut the FIU lead to one, 26-25, on a jumper by Treavann Warren with 4:12 left in the first half, the Panthers would put together a 19-0 run through the rest of the first stanza and the first 4:15 of the second half to blow the game open and take a 20-point advantage, 45-25, on a McGill layup with 15:45 left in the contest.
The Rattlers would never get closer than 15 points the rest of the way. FIU extended its lead to as many as 23 points, 57-34, on a Stephen three with 8:50 left.
On the night, the Panthers shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field, while holding FAMU to just 30.8 percent (16-of-52) from the floor, including a dismal 24 percent (6-of-25) shooting in the second half.
FIU will now turn its attention to league play when it faces Florida Atlantic University on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 3 p.m. on Lime Court at FIU Arena in its Conference USA opener.
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/.
