BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Feb. 28, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team (13-16, 6-10) closed out a two-game road trip with a 77-61 loss to the WKU Hilltoppers on Saturday night at E.A. Diddle Arena. With the loss, the Panthers have dropped four of their last five games.

Senior guard Dennis Mavin led the way for FIU, scoring 16 points in the loss. With his 16-point effort, Mavin passed Darius Cook (1997-00) for the No. 13 spot in FIU's career scoring record book, as the Gainesville native now has 867 career points in an FIU uniform. Senior Kris Gulley put together a strong effort, scoring a career-high 15 points while grabbing six rebounds on the night. Junior Daviyon Draper rounded out FIU's double-digit scorers, as he tallied 10 points on the evening.

The Panthers jumped out to a 7-4 lead through the first five minutes and forced three Hilltopper turnovers during that stretch. Gulley was strong for the Panthers with his shooting in the early stages, as he knocked down three from long distance, with his third coming at the 11:33 mark to put FIU ahead, 17-12. Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz followed Gulley with a dunk to put the Panthers in front by seven with 11:13 to go in the first half. WKU scored the next 10 points though to retake the lead at 22-19 with 7:03 remaining in the first stanza.

A field goal by Gulley and a made free throw by junior Michael Phillip put points on the board for the Panthers to slow things down for a moment, but another run of 8-1 for WKU made it a 30-22 game at the 4:42 mark. Both teams closed out the half with six points each, resulting in a 36-28 score in favor of the Hilltoppers at the halfway point. Gulley led the Panthers with 11 points entering the locker room.

Draper opened the second half with two free throws and Mavin converted on a field goal to shrink the WKU lead to six. The Hilltoppers answered with the next five before Mavin sank two free throws and Draper made a field goal at the 13:43 mark to make it 45-36 in favor of the home team. WKU would answer though, putting together another strong stretch where it scored nine of the next 12 points, making it a 53-39 ballgame with 11:15 to go.

Then leading 56-46, WKU strung together a fast 12-0 run over a time span of 2:56 to increase the lead to 22 points, as the Hilltoppers made eight of their last 10 field goals. Draper ended that stretch with a pair of free throws and Mavin made a floater in the lane to make it 68-58 in favor of WKU. Then with the Hilltoppers leading 73-52, Gulley made two free throws and Draper mid a short jumper to cut the lead to 17 points. From there, WKU closed the game scoring four of the final seven points resulting in a 77-61 final.

FIU returns home on Thursday on Lime Court at FIU Arena, hosting Middle Tennessee at 7:30 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/.