Game Details
North Texas 69, FIU 67
FIU (9-13, 3-6 C-USA), North Texas (12-10, 5-4 C-USA)
Denton, Texas | The Super Pit
 
The Basics
- The FIU men's basketball team held a seven-point lead with just over six minutes left in regulation, and Eric Lockett (Warner Robins, Georgia) and Brian Beard, Jr. (Rancho Cucamonga, California) scored 26 and 22 points, respectively, however the Panthers could not hold on as North Texas pulled out a thrilling 69-67 overtime win over FIU at the Super Pit in Denton. After a frantic UNT possession in the final 12.8 seconds of the extra session, and the Blue and Gold leading 67-66, the Mean Green's Ryan Woolridge picked up a loose ball rolling on the floor and fed D.J. Draper who drained a deep three-point shot to put North Texas on top for good. Beard, Jr. drove the length of the court and had a last-second three-point attempt from 25 feet that went off the side of the rim. The loss, the Panthers' second-straight and fourth in the past five games, drops FIU to 9-13 overall and 3-6 in Conference USA. North Texas improves to 12-10 and 5-4 in league play.
  
- After FIU held a game-high 12-point lead in the first half and taking a 35-29 lead into the locker room at the break, North Texas came out in the second half and scored the first six points of the stanza, tying the game at 35-all just under two minutes into the half. Neither team led by more than four points early on in the second half until the Panthers used a 10-4 run to take their biggest lead of the half, 54-47, when Michael Douglas (Sachse, Texas) hit the first of two free-throw attempts with 6:18 left on the clock. From that point on, the Mean Green scored 12 of the final 19 points of regulation, but it was Lockett who tied the game up at 61, taking advantage of a Trejon Jacob (Raleigh, North Carolina) steal and converting a layup with 30 seconds left on the clock for what was his final basket of the game. Beard recorded one of his two steals on the night to end any last-second chance for North Texas.
 
- The Panthers were either in the lead or tied with the Mean Green for all but three seconds of the extra five minutes of play until Draper hit the game winner.
 
- FIU shot 40.0 percent (26-fo-65) on the night from the field and struggles again from behind the three-point arc hitting just 16.7 percent (3-for-16) of its shots from three.        
 
- The Panthers forced North Texas into 20 turnovers in the game – while committing just 11 – that led to a 20-7 points-off-turnover margin.
 
- In addition to his game-high 26 points, Lockett also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for his fourth career double-double.
 
 Stat of the Game
For the second-straight game, FIU had two players score more than 20 points, with Lockett and Beard, Jr. netting 26 and 22 points, respectively, against North Texas … Unfortunately, the rest of the Panthers just accounted for 19 points on the night, with six of them coming from Osasumwen Osaghae (Miami, Florida/Robert Morgan {Southridge Senior}) … On Thursday night at Rice, Jacob and Beard, Jr. each netted 22 points apiece, with the rest of the team scoring just 20 points.
 
Notable
- Tonight's starters for FIU were: G Trejon Jacob, G Brian Beard, Jr., G Eric Lockett, F Hassan Hussein (Lorton, Virginia), and F Jay Harvey (Chicago, Illinois) … The Panthers are 2-1 with this starting five.

- FIU's loss to North Texas drops its record in the all-time series to 16-5. The Panthers have now lost four-straight to the Mean Green at the Super Pit. FIU has not won in Denton since Dec. 20, 2010, when the Panthers handed UNT an 80-70 overtime loss when both schools were members of the Sun Belt Conference.

- The overtime setback was the Panthers' 12^th-straight dating back to the beginning of the 2015-16 season … FIU's last overtime win was a 73-71 victory over Southern Miss on Feb. 12, 2015.

- Lockett's 26 points marks his 17^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 21^th of his career … Lockett has netted double figures in 19 of his last 21 games, dating back to the end 2016-17 season.

- Lockett's 26 points is the sixth game of his FIU career with 20 or more points.

- Beard, Jr.'s 22 points marks his 20^th double-figure scoring performance of the season, and the 20^th-straight. 

Up Next
Following its game against North Texas, the Panthers will return home on Feb. 1, to host Southern Miss, and Louisiana Tech on Feb. 3. Both games start at 7 p.m.
  
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