BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 12, 2015) – The FIU men's basketball team dropped its Conference USA Tournament quarterfinal game to the UTEP Miners, 83-71, on Thursday afternoon. With the loss, FIU finishes the 2014-15 campaign with a 16-17 overall record, besting last season's win total of 15 games.

In his final collegiate game, senior guard Dennis Mavin notched his ninth 20-point game of the season, scoring a game-high 23 points while adding four rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes of action. Redshirt junior Adrian Diaz added 13 points, three rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a career-high five steals. UTEP was lights out from the field, shooting 61.0 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc. The Miners had five players score in double-figures.

UTEP led or the game was tied for the seven-plus minutes until Mavin hit a jumper at the 12:27 mark to allow the Panthers to take a 13-12 lead. After an exchange of scores by both teams, the Miners went out in front and would never surrender the lead again. Two free throws from UTEP's Evan Morris made it a 16-15 game with 11:04 to go in the first half, which began a 6-0 run for the Miners. UTEP held a lead by as many as five, but down the stretch Diaz made two free throws and junior Daviyon Draper hit a jumper to make it just a two-point game at the 8:38 mark. The Miners made two from long distance to make it a seven-point game and extended it to nine points on a pair of free throws.  Diaz made a free throw, but UTEP closed the period on a 6-0 run to lead 47-33 at halftime.

The Miners jumped out to an 18-point lead early in the second half before Mavin hit one of his four from long distance at 18:40 mark. UTEP kept building on the lead though and made it a 23-point game with 15:31 remaining in regulation. Diaz scored three-straight points and senior Marco Porcher Jimenez followed with a three-pointer to quickly cut the lead to 17. Another three from Mavin at the 9:42 mark trimmed the deficit to 65-40 before UTEP scored the next five. Then trailing by 22, Mavin hit a three with 6:02 to go, getting it back under 20. That was the beginning of an 8-0 run for the Panthers, as freshman Hassan Hussein scored next five points to bring it back down to 14. From there, the closest FIU got was 12 points after redshirt sophomore Ray Rodriguez made two free throws. Mavin closed out the game with a three at the buzzer, resulting in a 83-71 win for the Miners.

FIU shot 37.5 percent from the field for the game and 35 percent from three-point range. The Panthers' 13 assists marked the second-straight game FIU has recorded double-digit helpers. FIU also recorded 11 steals while turning the ball over 12 times and forcing 17 UTEP turnovers. 

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/.