MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (March 2, 2017) – Despite the fact that the FIU men's basketball team will not be taking part in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament presented by MetroPCS, in Birmingham, Alabama, the Panthers began their final road trip of the 2016-17 campaign looking to finish the season on a positive note and pick up some momentum heading into the long offseason.
FIU battled for the entire 40 minutes, however, didn't get the result it wanted as it tipped off its final two games of 2016-17. Middle Tennessee showed just why it is the regular season champion, handing the Panthers a come-from-behind 70-67 loss on Thursday night at the Charles M. Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, in front of 5,510 raucous fans.
FIU drops to 6-24 on the year and 2-15 in league play, while the Blue Raiders improve to an impressive 26-4 ledger and 16-1 in C-USA.
Eric Nottage poured in a game-high 28 points and had five assists, while playing all 40 minutes, and
Elmo Stephen and
Michael Kessens added 16 and 12 points, respectively. Stephen also grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.
FIU came out of the gate on fire to start the game, taking an 18-1 lead on Middle Tennessee when Kessens hit a baby hook in the lane with 14:25 left in the first half, prompting the Blue Raiders to call their third time out of the game in the first 5:35 of the contest.
The Panthers extended the advantage on their next possession to a game-high 19 points, 20-1, when Nottage drained two free throws with 12:48 left in the first stanza.
Middle Tennessee, however, eventually got things rolling as its chipped away at the FIU lead. With the Panthers leading by 12, 35-23, with 2:14 left before the break, the Blue Raiders closed out the half on a 7-3 run to head into the locker room at the intermission trailing by eight, 38-30. FIU's lone field goal during that stretch was a 22-foot three-point bomb by Nottage at the halftime horn.
FIU shot 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the field in the first 20 minutes and a simmering 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from behind the three-point arc. Middle Tennessee recovered to hit 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from the field, despite a dismal 16.7 performance (1-of-6) from behind the arc.
The second half proved to be a different story, despite the Panthers continuing to hold the lead for nearly the first seven minutes of the second stanza.
Stephen hit a jumper with 17:39 left in the game that maintained FIU's halftime spread, eight points, 40-32, however the Blue Raiders used a 13-4 run capped by a JaCorey Williams jump shot with 12:20 left in the game to give Middle Tennessee its first lead of the night, 46-44. The Blue Raiders never looked back the rest of the contest.
Middle Tennessee took its biggest lead of the game, 56-49, when Tyree Dixon converted a driving layup with 8:26 left.
The Blue Raiders bent down the stretch, however they didn't break as FIU cut the lead to two points in the final 5:21, including with 19 seconds left, on a Stephen rebound put back to make the score, 65-63. That would be as close at the Panthers got.
FIU finished the night shooting 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the field.
The Panthers close out the 2016-17 campaign at UAB on March 4 (8 p.m. ET). That game will be carried live on Campus Insiders.
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/.
