MIAMI, Florida (December 15, 2016) – The FIU men's basketball team battled to the end but down the stretch fell just short in a tough hard-fought 75-68 loss to Georgia Southern on Thursday night at Lime Court at FIU Arena. The setback drops the Panthers to 3-8 on the year while the Eagles improve to 6-5.

Donte McGill led the scoring for both teams with a game-high 21 points, including 14 points in the second half, while Kimar Williams added a career-high 15 points in the loss. Michael Kessens chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double in an FIU uniform and the 19^th of his collegiate career.

After a 35-all tie at the half, Georgia Southern started the second half on a 14-4 run to take a 10-point lead, 49-39, on an Ike Smith three-point shot with 14:54 left in the game.  
The Panthers, however, outscored Georgia Southern 17-6 over the next 8:04 with McGill scoring nine of his 14 second-half points during the stretch. But it was Kessens that gave FIU its final lead of the game, 56-55, on a layup off a Williams assist with 5:59 left in the contest. Williams would finish with six assists on the night, one off his career-high.

The Eagles would be too much down the stretch for the Panthers scoring 20 of the final 32 points in the game, while going 10-of-12 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes of play.

On the night, FIU shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field, including 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from behind the three-point arc, and 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the free-throw line.

The Panthers had solid bench scoring holding a 24-12 advantage, with six of the 24 coming from Michael Douglas.

FIU returns home on Saturday, Dec. 17 for its second game in three days when it faces Northern Illinois at FIU Arena, Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

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/.