MIAMI (Feb. 21, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team (13-14, 6-8) closed out its two-game, home-slate with a 70-56 loss to the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday night on Lime Court at FIU Arena. With the loss, the Panthers dropped to 4-14 all-time against the Mean Green.
Leading the way for the Panthers was senior Dennis Mavin, who scored 19 points on the night to go along with five rebounds and two assists in a full 40 minutes of action. Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz scored 13 points for the day while blocking six shots and grabbing five boards. Diaz now has 77 career blocks at FIU as he moves into fourth place all-time at FIU. Sophomore Dominique Williams rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Panthers, as he dropped in 12 points while notching seven rebounds.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well in the first 13 minutes of the game, as the Panthers went 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from the floor and the Mean Green converted 7-of-24 (29.4 percent) from the field to give North Texas a 14-13 lead. Both teams found more success shooting the ball in the final seven minutes of the half. FIU made 46.2 percent and North Texas drained 66.7 percent to close out the half. The Mean Green, which led for all but 59 seconds of the first half, took a 29-25 lead into the break. FIU finished the first half, shooting 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from the floor and was 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. North Texas shot 39.4 percent (13-of-33) from the field and was 2-of-9 from downtown.
Williams led all Panthers in the first half with eight points on 4-of-7 shooting. The Washington, D.C., native also grabbed a team-high five boards in the first 20 minutes of action. Diaz notched four of his six blocks in 11 minutes of action during the first half.
North Texas extended its lead to a then-game-high 11 points following a layup by Armani Flannigan with 12:15 left in the game. The Mean Green out-scored the Panthers 17-12 through the first nine minutes of the second half before eventually getting the advantage to 13 points at the 8:25 mark. Two free throws from Mavin, one from Diaz and a made layup from Williams got the lead down to seven, but the Mean Green closed the final 4:47 of the game on a 15-7 run to result in a 70-56 loss for FIU.
The Panthers will travel to Huntington, W.Va., to face the Marshall Thundering Herd on Thursday, Feb. 26. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. ET as the game will be broadcast on the American Sports Network.
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/.
