MIAMI (Jan. 16 2016) – The FIU men's basketball team got 19 points apiece from
Donte McGill and
Adrian Diaz, and 13 points from
Daviyon Draper, but couldn't overcome a poor second-half shooting performance as Southern Miss handed the Panthers a 66-60 loss on Saturday night on Lime Court at FIU Arena. The setback, just FIU's second in the last seven games, evens the Panthers at 9-9 on the year and 3-2 in Conference USA play.
After shooting 44.4 percent (12-of-27) in the first half, and leading by as many as eight points, 9-1, with 14:52 left in the first, the Panthers shot just 27.3 percent (6-of-22) in the second stanza while the Golden Eagles hit a blistering 58.3 percent (14-of-24) of their attempts in the second half.
Southern Miss (5-11, 2-3 Conference USA) would start the second half on a 6-0 run to take a 33-31 lead, with 16:45 left, on a jumper by Khari Price.
FIU regained the lead and pushed it to three, 38-35, on a three-point play by Diaz with 14:52 left in the game.
The Golden Eagles, however, would put together another run, this time an 8-0 stretch, to take control of the contest, eventually pushing the lead to as many as 11 points, 59-48, with 4:14 left.
The Panthers would battle back, down the stretch, getting the Southern Miss lead down to as few as four points, 63-59, on two free-throws by Diaz with 29 seconds remaining. That, however, would be as close as FIU would get.
McGill scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half, and shot 8-of-15 from the field in 38 minutes of action. Diaz produced just the opposite result of McGill, scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half, on 5-of-7 shooting, and an impressive 9-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Diaz and Draper shared game-high rebounding honors with seven boards apiece.
The Panthers now head to the Lone Star state, for the first of two trips to Texas, when they square off with UTSA on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. (ET). Following its meeting with the Roadrunners, FIU will travel to El Paso to face UTEP on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 9:05 p.m. (ET).
The Panthers return to Lime Court at FIU Arena, for two-straight, on Thursday, Jan. 28, when it plays host to Charlotte. FIU will then welcome Old Dominion to Miami on Saturday, Jan. 30. Both games will tipoff 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/.
