MIAMI (February 11, 2017) – After North Texas picked up its first Conference USA win of the season on Thursday night, up I-95 against Florida Atlantic, the Mean Green dreamt of coming to Miami on Saturday, defeating FIU and sweeping the Sunshine State. Well, it's safe to say that the Panthers had other ideas as FIU turned North Texas's dream into a "nightmare on Elmo Street" as FIU handed the Mean Green a 90-71 loss on Lime Court at FIU Arena.
The Panthers improved to 6-19 on the year and 2-10 in C-USA, while North Texas dropped to 7-17 overall and 1-11 in league play.
Elmo Stephen, who poured in a game- and career-high 34 points and grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds for his first career double-double, had 11 points just 5:31 into the game and 20 points at the half. Joining Stephen with double figures in the scoring column on the night were
Donte McGill with 17 points and
Cameron Smith with a career-high tying 14 points.
Eric Nottage, FIU's third leading scorer coming into tonight's game, scored eight points but dished out a career-high 11 of the Blue and Gold's 17 assists.
The Panthers shot 51.7 percent (30-of-58) from the field on the night, including 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from behind the three-point arc with five of the nine credited to Stephen.
FIU came out of the gate clicking on all cylinders in the first half pushing its lead to double figures midway through the first stanza, and as many as 16 points in the first 20 minutes, 31-15, on a three-point shot by
Michael Douglas with 5:49 left. The Panthers would eventually take a 38-30 lead into the locker room at the break
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North Texas would not pose much of a threat during the second half as FIU extended its lead to a game-high 22 points on a layup by
Donte McGill with 12:41 left in the game to make the score 64-42.
The Mean Green did chip away at the Panthers' lead, getting it down to seven points, 76-69, with 2:21 left, but that would be as close as North Texas got the rest of the night.
FIU heads back out on the road for two-straight at Southern Miss on Feb. 16 (8 p.m. ET) and Louisiana Tech on Feb. 18 (7 p.m. ET).
The Panthers will return to Lime Court at FIU Arena for their final homestand of the season, beginning on Feb. 23 when UTSA comes to Miami (7 p.m.) and then FIU closes out its 2016-17 home slate during Senior Night on Feb. 25 against UTEP (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/.
