BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Feb. 4, 2016) – The FIU men's basketball team placed four players in double figures, but that wouldn't be enough as UAB handed the Panthers a 74-69 loss on Thursday night at Bartow Arena. The setback, the Panthers' third-straight, drops FIU to 11-12 on the year and evens its Conference USA record at 5-5.
Daviyon Draper scored a game-high 16 points – including the 600th of his career at FIU – and
Adrian Diaz chipped in with 14 points in the loss.
Elmo Stephen and
Michael Douglas added 12 points off the bench. Douglas' 12 points marked a career-high total.
The Panthers fell behind early in the first half, and UAB (19-4, 9-1 C-USA) looked like it was going to run away with the game. The Blazers led by as many as 12 points, 20-8, with 12:45 left in the half on a dunk by Dirk Williams; however, FIU didn't give in that easy, using a 12-0 run to tie the game at 20-all on a driving layup by Diaz with 9:28 left in the half.
UAB regained the lead with a three-point shot on the next possession, and eventually pushed the advantage to as many as six, 30-24, with 6:53 left before the intermission, but could not put the Panthers away. The Blazers took a 41-36 lead into the locker room at the break.
Diaz and Draper led FIU at the intermission with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
UAB came out in the second stanza and appeared to deliver the knockout blow that it was looking for in the first half. The Blazers opened the second stanza scoring 16 of the first 18 points to take the eventual biggest lead of the game, 57-40, on a layup by William Lee with 13:06 left in the game.
The Panthers would not go away and used a 21-7 run to cut the Blazers lead to just three, 64-61, with 3:21 left when Douglas hit the second of two free throws.
After a Toshin Mehinti field goal on the next possession and two free throws by Nick Norton got the lead back to seven, 68-61, FIU made one last run to try and hand the Blazers their first home loss of the season.
The Panthers scored the next five points – four coming from
Eric Nottage – to cut the UAB lead to two, 68-66, with 34 seconds left, but that would be as close as FIU would get.
The Panthers finished the game shooting 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field, and held a slight 37-36 advantage on the boards. However, UAB outrebounded FIU 11-8 on the offensive glass, leading to 14 second-chance points.
Diaz grabbed six rebounds and had five blocked shots in 33 minutes. His fourth blocked shot of the night marked the 500th of his collegiate career – at both Kansas State and FIU.
Douglas also grabbed six boards in the loss.
FIU will now head to Murfreesboro, Tenn. to butt heads with Middle Tennessee on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. (ET).
FIU will return home on Thursday, Feb. 11 to face UTEP, before welcoming UTSA to Lime Court at FIU Arena on Feb. 13. Both games 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/.
