Box Score HUNTINGTON, W. Va.  (Feb. 26, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team (13-15, 6-9) surrendered a season-high 87 points on Thursday night to drop an 87-69 decision to the Marshall Thundering Herd. With the loss, FIU falls to 1-3 all-time against Marshall.

Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz led the way for the Panthers, scoring 19 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Junior Davion Draper added 12 points to go along with three steals while senior Dennis Mavin chipped in 12 points in 28 minutes of action. Freshman forward Hassan Hussein set career-highs in points (eight), rebounds (three) and field goals made (four). The Panthers shot 42.6 percent from the field for the game, while Marshall shot an even 50 percent.

The Panthers jumped out to an early lead of 5-4 thanks to a three from senior Kris Gulley and a two from Mavin. Draper tied it up with seven at the 15:58 mark with a jumper from the top of the key and Mavin followed with a jumper to make it a 9-7 game. The game went back-and-forth up to the 11:21 mark when Marshall led 14-13. From there, the Herd strung together 10 of the next 12 points to hold a 23-15 lead with 9:41 remaining in the first half. Redshirt junior Ray Rodriguez put an end to the run with a three to make it a 23-20 ballgame with 6:41 to go.

The Herd put together a run of 9-3 to go ahead by nine points with 4:01 to go in the first half. After opening the first half struggling from three, Marshall closed the first stanza make four of its final three-point attempts. The hot shooting from beyond the arc resulted in a 21-8 Herd run in the final 5:43 of the half, making the score 44-28.

Marshall came out strong in the second half, building its lead to 25 points with a 15-8 run to open the period, while FIU struggled shooting the ball making two of its first nine shots. After Mavin hit a three, the Herd answered with a 6-0 run to take a 67-39 advantage. From there, the Panthers strung together a 11-2 run which was started with a putback from Hussein and followed by a take by Draper. Three made free throws from Desir, and two makes from the charity stripe and four-straight points from Diaz made it 69-50 in favor of Marshall with 8:40 remaining.

After Marshall made a three, Rodriguez and Diaz combined with four-straight free throws to make it a 19-point game before the Herd answered with two on the other end. The Herd scored seven of the next nine points to take an 83-59 advantage with 4:50 to go. The Panthers closed the game on a 10-4 run, with Hussein scoring four of those points.

The Panthers are back in action this Saturday at 8 p.m. ET as they travel to WKU.

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/.