MIAMI, Fla. – The FIU men's basketball team exploded for 44 second-half points and built leads as large as 18 points en route to dropping Western Kentucky in a pivotal league matchup on Thursday night, 78-69, inside the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. A 22-4 run in the second half would ultimately vault the Panthers 10-11 overall and 4-6 in the C-USA, while WKU drops to 11-10 and 3-7 in league action.
 
Denver Jones led three Panthers in double figures with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, three rebounds and assists apiece and two steals, followed by freshman Arturo Dean with 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals – increasing his season steal total to 51, ranked at ninth in the nation for the category prior to tonight's contest.
 
Junior Javaunte Hawkins poured in 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including two threes (2-of-3), to give a spark in 18 minutes off the bench, while Dashon Gittens added nine points fresh off C-USA Freshman of the Week honors.
 
The Panthers hit 18-of-32 shots (56.3%) and buried six threes at a 46.2 percent clip (6-for-13) in the second half en route to finishing the contest 52.5 percent from the floor, 40.0 percent from three (10-of-25) and 80.0 percent from the free-throw line.
 
FIU disrupted the Hilltoppers defensively in the second half, holding WKU to just 1-of-7 shooting beyond the arc in the final stanza (14.3%) while forcing nine of WKU's 17 turnovers in the frame for 27 points in return on the night.
 
Sophomore forward Mohamed Sanogo recorded eight points and seven rebounds with several emphatic dunks throughout the night, while Petar Krivokapic pitched in eight points behind two treys (2-of-6) to pair with three steals. Nick Guadarrama finished with five points, two rebounds and two assists.
 
After trailing 36-34 at the break, FIU came out the gates on the attack in netting 15 of the first 21 points to gain control of the lead by the 13:03 mark, 49-42. Trailing by three at 42-39, Javaunte Hawkins would hit a jumper that sparked an 8-0 run, which included a floater from Hawkins that gained the lead (43-42), a layup from Arturo Dean and a transition layup from Dashon Gittens, to force a WKU timeout.
 
The Panthers continued to build on its lead with the momentum hitting nine of their next 10 shots from the floor, which included a pair of threes from Denver Jones and Nick Guadarrama, a Dean and-one layup and layup from Gittens, to go on and cap FIU's 22-4 run upon holding the advantage with 8:08 to play, 61-46.
 
From there it would be all FIU, seeing the Panthers build its largest lead of the night at 18 points with 3:03 remaining after a pair of threes from Gittens, Krivokapic and a Seth Pinkney alley-oop, 76-58, as the Panthers would ultimately hold on for the 78-69 final margin by the final horn.
 
FIU moves to 9-4 inside the Ocean Bank Convocation Center this season.

Postgame Press Conference - Head coach Jeremy Ballard and Arturo Dean:


 
UP NEXT
FIU welcomes Middle Tennessee inside the Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Saturday, Jan. 28, as the Panthers host the Blue Raiders for a 7 p.m. matchup to be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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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