MIAMI, Fla. — FIU men's basketball head coach Jeremy Ballard and the Panthers notched a 74-59 win over LIU, becoming the all-time wins leader in FIU's Division I Men's Basketball history. 

Ballard's 80th win surpassed Shaky Rodriguez for the most wins all-time in the Division I era of FIU men's basketball. Arturo Dean also had a historic evening with a 27-point career-high, adding seven rebounds, four assists and six steals. 

Jayden Brewer added 14 points off the bench and had five rebounds. Okechukwu Okeke chipped in a season-high 13 points in 21 minutes on 4-for-7 shooting from the free throw line. 

A total of 11 different Panthers appeared in the game as FIU's depth was important. 10 of those 11 players played 10 minutes or more as the Panthers had 35 bench points. The Panthers also  had 48 points in the paint despite missing Jonathan Aybar. 

The Panthers took a 12-7 lead, going up by five on a Brewer lay-up with 13:25 remaining in the first half. FIU extended it to nine with 6:50 to go as Seth Pinkney made a driving lay-up for the Panthers' largest lead in the first half. The Panthers' took a 31-24 lead into the halftime locker room.

LIU came out strong in the second half, cutting its deficit to three with 16:55 remaining. Ahead by just four with less than 13 minutes to go, FIU ripped off four straight points to go up by eight capped by a Jaidon Lipscomb layup. 

Dean extended the lead for FIU to 13 points on a three-pointer with 4:01 to go and the Panthers used this margin to secure the result. Dean made a lay-up with 24 seconds to go to put a bow on the victory, 74-59. 

The Panthers have an 11-day break in competition before facing off with FAU in Boca Raton, Fla. at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 13.