MIAMI (Jan. 14 2016) – Donte McGill scored a game- and career-high 29 points as the FIU men's basketball team led from wire-to-wire and picked up a big 88-74 Conference USA win on Thursday night on Lime Court at FIU Arena. The win – the Panthers' fifth in their last six games – improves FIU to 9-8 on the year and 3-1 in C-USA.
McGill was one of four players in double-digits in the win.
Daviyon Draper chipped in 18 points, while
Jason Boswell and
Adrian Diaz each added 11 points.
The Panthers shot a season-high 56.9 percent (33-of-58) from the field, including a blistering 71.4 percent (20-of-28) in the first half. FIU converted 50 percent (10-of-20) from behind the three-point arc. In addition, FIU converted 75 percent (12-of-16) of its shots from the free-throw line.
The Panthers jumped on top early, and rode McGill's 23 first-half points, as they took an 11-point lead, 52-41, into the locker room at the break.
The Bulldogs (13-4, 2-2 C-USA) would get the FIU lead to as few as seven points, 61-54, on a layup by Dayon Griffin with 13:29 left, but would never threaten the Panthers the rest of the way.
Five players – Boswell, McGill, Diaz,
Eric Nottage and
Cameron Smith – all tied with a team-high four rebounds, while Diaz added four blocked shots, one assist and a steal in 36 minutes of action.
The Panthers will return home, to Lime Court at FIU Arena, to face Southern Miss on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.
For men's basketball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
Fans are encouraged to follow @FIUHoops 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 at the FIU Football Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
