BOCA RATON, Florida (Feb. 27, 2016) – The FIU men's basketball team closed out its regular season road schedule, snapping its two-game losing streak with a 71-63 win at rival Florida Atlantic on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Panthers' record to 13-16 and 7-9 in Conference USA play.
Daviyon Draper led FIU with 21 points and 11 rebounds – both game highs – while
Donte McGill and
Adrian Diaz added 19 and 17 points, respectively in the win. Draper's double-double was his seventh of the season and the second in his last three games.
The first half of the game between the Panthers and Owls (7-22, 5-11 Conference USA) wouldn't be considered an offensive work of art, however FIU would take a 28-20 lead into the locker room at the break. The Panthers shot 38.2 percent (13-of-34) from the field in the first half, while Florida Atlantic shot just 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from the floor.
Diaz hit the first basket of the game for FIU, just 1:01 into the contest, however, the Panthers proceeded to go on a scoring drought of 6:18 until McGill connected on a layup with 12:43 left in the half to make the score 5-4, FAU. McGill then went on to score the next seven points for the Panthers.
Both teams would go back and forth for the next several minutes with neither team leading by more than two points.
FIU, however, looked poised to open the game up. The Panthers led by just one point, 15-14, when Draper scored on a driving layup with 6:24 left before the break. That was Draper's first points of the game. The Los Angeles native would go on to score the next seven points, after his first field goal to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the game, 22-14, with 3:50 left in the half. FIU eventually took the same margin into the locker room at the break.
McGill would lead the Panthers at the intermission with 11 points.
The Owls cut the FIU lead to four points, 35-31, with 15:02 left in the game on a Nick Rutherford layup. The Panthers used a 20-5 run over the next 7:17 to take their biggest lead of the contest, 19 points, 55-36, on a jump shot by Draper with 7:22 left in the game.
FAU made things interesting, cutting the FIU lead down to six, 69-63, but could not get any closer.
The Panthers would finish the game shooting 41.9 percent (26-of-62) on the day and 81 percent (17-of-21) from the free throw line.
FIU also dominated on the glass outrebounding the Owls, 46-31, including a 12-6 margin on the offensive boards leading to 17 second chance points.
The Panthers 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/.
