MIAMI (Feb. 19, 2015) – With the FIU men's basketball team trailing by one point and less than 25 seconds remaining, redshirt sophomore Ray Rodriguez drilled a three to put the Panthers ahead, eventually resulting in a 60-56 victory on Thursday night from Lime Court at FIU Arena. With the victory, FIU improved to 2-0 all-time against Rice.

Rodriguez finished the game with 12 points, including four threes, and played with four fouls for the final 10 minutes. Senior Dennis Mavin led the Panthers in scoring, knocking down 19 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds in the win. Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz scored 12 points and added eight rebounds, while adding two blocks to extend his FIU season-record block total to 71. Senior Kris Gulley also contributed a strong effort for FIU, scoring 11 points and tallying seven rebounds.

The Panthers got off to a fast start with Gulley draining a three to open the game. Diaz and Mavin followed with layups to give FIU a 7-0 advantage at the 16:48 mark. Following a Rice three, Diaz used a nice up-and-under move to give FIU a six-point edge before Rice answered with three more. After exchanges of baskets, the Owls' Seth Gerhart converted a three-point play to give Rice a 12-11 lead. From there, the Panthers strung together a 7-0 run consisting of field goals from Mavin and Williams and a three from Rodriguez to put FIU 18-12 at the 10:46 mark.

With FIU leading 22-14, Rice scored five of the next six points to cut the lead to 23-19 with 6:58 to go in the first stanza. The Panthers stretched the lead to five on a putback by Diaz at the 1:25 mark to make it 29-24. With 54 seconds remaining, Mavin made an acrobatic basket and Diaz hit two free-throws to give FIU a 33-27 lead heading into the locker room.

Rice opened the second half on a 7-5 run before Rodriguez nailed a three at the 14:34 mark to make it a 41-34 game. Rice made a free-throw and a three to make it a three-point game, but Mavin hit a crucial three-point play at 11:01 to put the Panthers up by six. Williams and Diaz followed with four-straight free-throws to cap off a 7-0 run and a 48-38 Panther advantage. However, Rice stormed back though with seven-straight points to make it a 48-45 game with 8:04 to go.

Gulley got the Panthers back on track with a bucket in the lane to extend the lead to five. Rice answered on the other end with two free-throws from Gerhardt, but Gulley came with two more from the charity stripe. Gerhardt continued to be a thorn in FIU's side, hitting a three with 5:10 to go to shrink the FIU lead to 52-50. The Owls scored the next six points to make it a 9-0 run and led 56-52 at the 2:02 mark.

Rodriguez put an end to the run with a three off an offensive rebound with 1:29 to go. After the Panthers got a big stop on the defensive end, the Miami-native Rodriguez hit a big three on the baseline as the shot clock expired with 22 seconds to go in regulation, putting the Panthers ahead by two. FIU got another stop on defense, Gulley grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made both free-throws, resulting in a final of 60-56.

FIU is back in action on Saturday as the Panthers host North Texas at 6 p.m. on Lime Court at FIU Arena.

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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/.