MIAMI (February 25, 2017) – The FIU men's basketball team closed out its 2016-17 home schedule on Saturday night with a 90-76 loss to UTEP on Lime Court at FIU Arena.
The Panthers placed four players in double figures led by
Donte McGill's 18 points. McGill finished the game six points shy of becoming the seventh player in FIU history to score 1,000 points for his career.
Eric Nottage and
Eric Lockett each scored 14 points apiece with Lockett's point total setting a new career high.
Elmo Stephen added 11 points to round out the double-figure scorers.
FIU drops to 6-23 on the year and 2-14 in Conference USA. The Miners, who next to first place Middle Tennessee – FIU's opponent on Thursday, are the hottest team in C-USA, winning 11 of their last 13 games, improve to 13-15 overall and 11-5 in league play.
The Panthers shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) from the field on the night and 50 percent (10-of-20) from behind the three-point arc, but they could not contend with UTEP, which shot at a blistering clip on the night. The Miners hit for 67.3 percent (35-of-52) from the floor – including an impressive 72 percent (18-of-25) in the second half – and 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from behind the arc in the win. In addition, UTEP turned in an 86.7 percent (13-of-15) performance from the charity stripe.
The Miners, who allowed the Panthers to hold a lead for just 31 seconds the entire night, took an 11 point lead, 41-30, into the locker room at the break. They quickly turned that lead into a 16-point advantage on a three-point shot by Dominic Artis just 1:30 into the second stanza to make the score 48-32.
FIU looked to get back into the game getting the UTEP lead down to seven, 50-43, on a Stephen jumper with 15:03 left in the contest. That was as close as the Panthers got the rest of the night.
Although UTEP controlled the paint during the contest, 48-30, the Panthers took advantage of 10 Miners' miscues for 21 points, and got 12 second-chance points off seven offensive rebounds during the evening.
FIU's bench also outscored UTEP 26-12, in part because of a big night from freshman
Osasumwen Osaghae, scoring a career-high five points and grabbing a career-best three rebounds. Osaghae came into tonight's game scoreless on the year having played less than 30 seconds all season in just one outing.
FIU now hits the road for the final time to close out the 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).
#####
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/.
