EL PASO, Texas (Jan. 23, 2016) – The FIU men's basketball team completed an impressive two-game sweep of the state of Texas, with a hard-fought, 79-69, gut-check win over UTEP in front of 7,688 raucous fans at the Don Haskins Center on Saturday night.
Adrian Diaz scored a team-high 20 points, while
Daviyon Draper added 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of season and the sixth of his career. In addition, Draper chipped in a career-high six assists and three steals.
Donte McGill also scored 16 points, including 14 in the second half.
The Panthers, who also defeated UTSA, 72-56, on Thursday night, improve their record to 11-9 on the year and 5-2 in Conference USA action. FIU's 5-2 conference record is its best since the 1999-2000 campaign (5-2 in Sun Belt Conference play).
The win was FIU's second straight, and its seventh in its last nine games.
After a slow start to begin the game, FIU got back on track, shooting a blistering 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field, including 50.0 percent (6-of-12) from behind the three-point arc in the first stanza.
UTEP (11-9, 3-4 C-USA) jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, 2:15 into the contest, however the Panthers used a 10-0 run to take a 12-7 lead on a layup by Diaz with 13:51 left before the break.
FIU wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the half, and used another 10-0 run to take its biggest lead of the half, 15 points, 38-25, on a
Kimar Williams layup with 1:20 left before the break.
Diaz led the way with 12 first-half points.
The Panthers would seemingly take control of the game in the second half as they pushed their advantage to as many as 21 points, 64-43, on a Draper three-point shot with 10:43 left in the contest.
The Miners, however, had other thoughts using a 24-6 run, over a 7:55 stretch, to cut the lead to three points, 70-67, on a three-point shot by Lee Moore. During the UTEP run, the Panthers found themselves in the midst of a 4:02 scoring drought that ended with
Eric Nottage hitting his only field goal of the contest, a three-point shot with 2:22 left in the game, making the score 73-67.
FIU closed out the game scoring six of the final eight points, including 4-of-6 shooting from the free-throw line in the last 1:50.
Jason Boswell,
Elmo Stephen and
Ray Rodriguez all scored six points in the win.
Although Nottage scored just three points – albeit a big three points – he also added seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 20 minutes of action.
The Panthers finished the game shooting 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the field, including 51.7 percent (15-of-29) in the second half, and 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from three-point range.
FIU also outrebounded the Miners, 37-35 in the win.
The Panthers and UTEP will meet again during the regular season, this time in Miami, on Feb. 11.
FIU returns home 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 tip off 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/.
