MIAMI (February 23, 2017) – The FIU men's basketball team battled back from 20 points down on Thursday to take the lead with less than five minutes left against UTSA, but could not hold on as the Roadrunners hung on for a nail-biting, 69-67, win over the Panthers on Lime Court at FIU Arena.

Michael Kessens hit a jumper with 53 seconds left in the game off an Eric Nottage assist to put FIU up 67-66, however on the next possession UTSA's Giovanni DeNicolao drove the lane and kicked the ball out to Lucas O'Brien who drained the three for the eventual game-winner. Nottage had one last attempt from just inside the half court line that went wide of the backboard.

The setback was FIU's third this season on a game-winning shot with less than 10 seconds left, and its second in the last three games.

The loss drops the Panthers to 6-22 on the year and 2-13 in Conference USA, while the Roadrunners improve to 12-16 overall and 7-8 in league play.

Donte McGill scored a game-high 22 points for his 13^th 20-plus-point outing of the season. Kessens netted nine points and grabbed nine rebounds.

After leading 21-20 with 10:04 left in the first half, the Panthers watched as UTSA closed the half on a 23-5 run, a stretch that saw the Roadrunners take its biggest lead of the game, 43-23, with 1:09 left in the first stanza on the second of two free throws.

UTSA then took a 43-26 lead into the locker room at the break. The Roadrunners controlled the pain in the first 20 minutes of play, outscoring FIU 22-10 in the lane, and converted eight first half turnovers into 15 points.

The Panthers came out with newfound energy in the second half using a 13-3 run to start the second stanza and cut the UTSA lead to nine points, 48-39, on a Nottage jumper with 15:24 remaining.

FIU then put together a 16-3 run to take its first lead since the midway point of the first half, 63-62, on a McGill trey with 4:24 left in the contest.
Neither team led by more than one-point the rest of the way until O'Brien's winner.

On the night, the Panthers shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the field, however just 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from behind the three-point arc. FIU was 15-of-16 (93.8 percent) from the charity stripe in the loss.

The Panthers return to Lime Court at FIU Arena to close out their 2016-17 home slate during Senior Night on Feb. 25 against UTEP (7 p.m.). FIU closes out the regular season at Middle Tennessee on March. 2 (7:30 p.m. ET) and at UAB on March 4 (8 p.m. ET).

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/.