HOUSTON, Texas (Feb. 20, 2016) – Daviyon Draper scored a career-high 26 points and Adrian Diaz and Donte McGill added 12 points apiece, but that wasn't enough Rice handed the FIU men's basketball team a 86-70 loss on Saturday at Tudor Fieldhouse. The loss, the second-straight for the Panthers, drops FIU to 12-16 on the year and 6-9 in Conference USA.  

Diaz scored the field goal to reach the milestone on a layup with 12:58 left in the half. He currently sits with 1,011 career points at both Kansas State and FIU, with 867 coming in a Panthers' uniform.

Diaz also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss marking his seventh double-double of the season and the 13^th of his career. It was his first since a 23-point, 15-reboubnd effort against Florida A&M on Dec. 29.

The Owls (11-16, 6-8) shot 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the field while FIU hit 45.6 percent (26-of-57) of its shots on the afternoon.

Rice jumped out on top quickly scoring the first seven points of the game, to take a 7-0 lead just 2:53 into the contest on a dunk by Marcus Evans.

FIU got as close as one-point, 13-12, with 12:58 on the clock on a layup by Diaz, but could not tie the contest or take the lead. The Owls extended their lead with a 7-0 run and took advantage of an FIU scoring drought of 2:58 to take an 11-point lead, 28-17, on a dunk by Egor Koulechov with 7:33 left in the half.

Rice closed out the first half on an 8-0 run through the final 59 seconds to take its biggest lead of the game into the locker room at the break, 52-34. The 52 points surrendered by the Panthers was the most allowed in the first half of game this season, and second to only Marshall's 56 points that FIU allowed in the second half of its game with the Panthers on Jan. 9.

Rice kept control in the second half and never allowed FIU to get back into the game.

The Owls pushed their lead to as many as 23 points, 68-45, midway through the half on a Connor Cashaw layup with 11:03 remaining.

The Panthers' second swing trip of the season to Texas marked the first two games of three-straight on the road. FIU will travel to Florida Atlantic during that stretch to face the Owls on Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. (ASN).

The Panthers will return home on Thursday, March 3 at 7 p.m. when they meet UAB on Lime Court at FIU Arena, before welcoming Middle Tennessee to Miami on Saturday, March 5 at 6 p.m. to close out the regular season. 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/.