HATTIESBURG, Miss. (Feb. 12, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team (12-12, 5-6 C-USA) squeaked out a 73-71 victory over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Thursday night at Reed Green Coliseum. The Panthers trailed by as many as 13 in the game but rallied to force overtime, outscoring the Golden Eagles 9-7 in the extra frame.
The Panthers had three players score in double-figures, led by senior guard
Dennis Mavin, who netted all 16 of his points in the second half. To go along with his 16 tallies, Mavin added eight rebounds, two assists and three steals as he played all 45 minutes. Also playing the full 45 was junior
Daviyon Draper, who matched a team-high 16 points along with four assists, one block and one steal. Junior
Ray Rodriguez posted a personal-high 14 points in an FIU uniform. Senior
Kris Gulley and sophomore
Dominique Williams chipped in eight points in the win.
Gulley started the game scoring the Panthers' first five points, which included a three on FIU's first possession. The Golden Eagles scored their first eight points on two threes and a second chance basket. Trailing 10-5, FIU scored the next five points on a layup from junior
Adrian Diaz and a three from Rodriguez to knot it up at 10. Then trailing 13-10, Draper scored FIU's next five of the game's next eight points to cut the Golden Eagle advantage down to one.
FIU got the lead back on a three by Gulley to make it a 19-18 game and Rodriguez and Williams combined for another five points to put the Panthers ahead, 24-18 with 8:57 to go in the first half. Southern Miss from there strung together an 8-0 run before Rodriguez chipped in a baseline jumper to make it a 26-26 game. The Golden Eagles closed out the half on an 8-4 run thought to make it 34-30 at the break.
Southern Miss came out strong in the second half, scoring seven of the first nine points to jump out to a 41-32 lead. Mavin hit a three at the 16:37 mark to cut the lead down to five, but the Golden Eagles' Chip Armelin answered with a three followed by Matt Bingaya three-point play that put Southern Miss up, 47-35. The Eagles would extend their lead to 12 points, taking a 53-41 advantage.
FIU used a 13-0 run to get back into the game, starting with a Draper three and followed by two Mavin makes from the free throw line. Draper drained another three and Mavin converted a big three-point play to make it a 53-52 game. FIU got the lead back on a Diaz layup with 7:40 remaining. After an exchange of baskets for both teams, the Eagles knocked down a three to get back in front. FIU answered with a three from Williams and another field goal from Diaz, making it a 61-58 game with 4:57 to go. Southern miss scored the next four, but two free throws for Draper put FIU ahead by one. A jumper by Armelin put the Eagles ahead by one again. Williams made one of two from the line for FIU with 26 seconds to send it to overtime.
In the extra frame, Southern Miss got the first score, but a technical foul allowed Rodriguez to make one of two free throws and a layup by Mavin gave FIU a one-point edge. Rodriguez drained a three at the 2:46 mark to put the Panthers up four, 70-66. Then leading 71-69, Draper made one of two from the charity stripe to make it a three-point game. The Golden Eagles made two ensuing free throws, followed by Mavin making one of two. With the two-point lead, FIU made the stop on the defensive end to secure a 73-71 victory.
FIU is back in action this Saturday as it travels to Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. ET.
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 schools that 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/.
