MIAMI, Fla. – The FIU men's basketball team collected a resilient 77-66 season-opening win over Houston Christian on Monday night, as the Panthers rallied from a 17-point deficit in the first half to outscore the Huskies by 20 in the second half and notch the comeback victory inside the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
 
Monday's contest was certainly a tale of two halves, seeing the Panthers come out flat and suffer to a blistering hot Houston Christian squad that hit 9-of-14 from beyond the arc (64.3%) through the opening 20 minutes before clamping down defensively to hold HCU to just 31.3 percent shooting in the second half.
 
FIU forced 22 Houston Christian turnovers that accounted for 22 points in return during the contest, as the Panthers capitalized hitting 19-of-32 from the floor (59.4%) in the second half to finish the contest shooting 50 percent (33-for-66).
 
Additionally, the Panthers overwhelmed HCU inside the paint with a massive 58-26 differential, while displaying valuable usage of all 11 Panthers who played with a 37-5 advantage in bench points for the night.
 
Four Panthers finished in double figures, as sophomore guard Denver Jones led the quartet, matching a career-high 23 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, in addition to five rebounds and two steals. Freshman Arturo Dean impressed in his FIU debut with 19 points and team-highs of six rebounds, three assists and five steals defensively in 28 minutes.
 
Junior guard Javaunte Hawkins chipped in 11 points with two assists and steals apiece, while graduate guard John Williams Jr. added 10 points and four rebounds to round out FIU's double-digit scorers.
 
Houston Christian was led by Brycen Long with 28 points behind a record-tying 8-of-11 shooting from 3-point range – which matched an Ocean Bank Convocation Center record for 3-pointers made in a contest.
 
The Huskies came out the gates firing on all cylinders, hitting their first 10 of 17 looks from the field, including 6-of-12 from beyond the arc, to bust a 10-point lead by the 9:54 mark of the first half, 27-17. A trio of threes from HCU's Long extended their longest lead of the night, 36-19, just moments later, though, FIU answered with a 7-0 run on five points from Javaunte Hawkins and a Jayden Brewer dunk to reel the margin in at a Huskies timeout, 36-26 (5:00). Both squads then traded scores from there to see FIU trail 41-32 heading into the locker rooms.
 
Out of the break, the Panthers cut the margin to a two-possession game by the under-16 media timeout, seeing a layup and dunk from Mohamed Sanogo trim the lead to six (48-42) prior to consecutive finishes from Williams Jr. producing a 51-46 spread.
 
FIU would then take over from there, using a 12-3 run to snatch its first lead of the contest with 10:45 to play, 58-54. Arturo Dean would spark the run, finishing back-to-back fast break layups after turning over a Husky before a John Williams Jr. finish and pair of free throws from Denver Jones knotted the score at 54-54 (11:00). Another steal by Dean in FIU's full-court press then set up the go-ahead lay for the Miami native, as a layup and ensuing dunk from Denver Jones corralled the advantage into FIU's favor for good by the under-eight media timeout, 60-56 (7:36).
 
Fatigue began to set in for the Huskies, as FIU collected steal after steal to push a trio of nine-point margins before consecutive layups from Hawkins and Williams Jr. pushed FIU's largest lead of the night at 75-62 with 2:01 remaining. The Panthers controlled the tempo over the final two minutes as another Hawkins floater ultimately would put the game to rest with under a minute to play to see the Panthers come away with the 77-66 victory at the final horn.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE - Head Coach Jeremy Ballard, Arturo Dean and John Williams Jr.:


 
UP NEXT
The Panthers welcome Florida National to Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Thursday, Nov. 10, for a 7 p.m. matchup to be broadcast on CUSA.tv.
 
TICKETS
For more information on FIU tickets to FIU basketball home games, including student ticketing, call 305-FIU-GAME or visit HERE.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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