RUSTON, La. – Sophomore Petar Krivokapic buried a career-best seven threes en route to leading FIU with a career-high 25 points, though, Louisiana Tech rallied in the second half to prevail over the Panthers in overtime, 77-76, inside Thomas Assembly Center on Thursday night. The loss drops FIU to 7-12 in the Conference USA and 13-17 overall.
 
Krivokapic went 7-for-9 from beyond the arc, including four first-half threes, and 8-for-10 from the field en route to his career high, while classmate Denver Jones recorded 19 points, a team-high six rebounds and four assists to round out the Panthers in double figures.
 
FIU led by as much as 16 points and held the advantage for 28:28 of the contest, though, the Bulldogs rallied in the second half behind a massive 19-5 run to knot things up midway through the final frame at 53-53 with 9:50 left in the game.
 
Both squads exchanged buckets up until Louisiana Tech nailed a go-ahead three for its first lead since the 17:38 mark of the first half at 60-58. The Bulldogs extended the margin to 67-63 prior to a pair of Dashon Gittens free throws sparking a one-possession game (67-65), as FIU got a late stop to draw up a baseline out-of-bounds play that resulted in a Gittens finish at the rack with 0:07 on the clock to send the game to overtime.
 
Krivakopic continued his heroics in the overtime period, opening the final frame with a corner three to hold a 70-67 edge prior to answering a 6-0 Bulldogs run with his seventh trey of the game to knot the spread at 73-73 with 49 seconds left. Louisiana Tech would however notch the lead once again after finishing a second-chance layup on the other end, 75-73.
 
FIU missed a pair of last chance layup opportunities en route to fouling the Bulldogs in the bonus, seeing La. Tech push the advantage to 77-73 at the stripe, though, Gittens nailed a corner three on the other end and managed to foul in the backcourt with 0:03 left to stay alive. Both free throws came off the mark, as Arturo Dean lifted a half-court heave as time expired that narrowly came off the mark off the backboard and back-iron to see the Bulldogs walk away with the 77-76 win at the final buzzer.
 
Arturo Dean finished with nine points, four rebounds and two assists and steals apiece, while Dashon Gittens recorded seven points, including the equalizing layup to force OT, four rebounds and four steals.
 
The Panthers hit 51.9 percent of its looks over the opening 20 minutes, paced by Krivokapic's 16 first-half points, to hold a 42-28 edge at the intermission.
 
FIU went ice cold in the second half, though, connecting on just 6-of-23 (26.1%) and 2-of-7 from three (28.6%).
 
Louisiana Tech erupted on 51.9 percent shooting in the second half, while owning the paint with a 38-20 differential for the contest, en route to the come from behind victory, as the Bulldogs were led by Keaston Willis (18) and Isaiah Crawford (16).
                                                         
Additionally, the Bulldogs finished with the edge on the glass, 42-28, while tallying 14 second chance points off 13 offensive rebounds.
 
UP NEXT
FIU wraps up the regular season at Rice on Saturday, Mar. 4, in Houston, as tip-off is slated for a 3 p.m. ET start inside Tudor Fieldhouse slated to be broadcast on CUSA.tv.
 
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