LAS CRUCES, N.M. — FIU's men's basketball program suffered a 77-70 defeat on the road in Conference USA (CUSA) play on Saturday afternoon in its final regular season contest. 

The Panthers (10-21, 5-11 CUSA) trailed by 19 at halftime as the Aggies (13-18, 7-9 CUSA) went on a 19-4 run to close the opening 20 minutes. FIU outscored NMSU 40-28 in the second half, but could not overcome the halftime deficit, falling by a seven-point margin. 

For the second consecutive game, Jayden Brewer led the Panthers in scoring, finishing with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Javaunte Hawkins was 3-for-8 from deep and scored 13 points in support. 

Petar Krivokapic had 10 points to round out FIU's double-digit scorers, all of which came in the opening half. Okechukwu Okeke contributed nine points off the bench in 11 minutes. 

Arturo Dean had three steals to bring his season total to 98, maintaining his status as the national leader and edging closer to Brian Beard Jr.'s FIU season record of 100. 

New Mexico State and FIU battled in the opening 15 minutes and the Panthers trailed just 30-26 with 5:26 to go in the opening frame. At this juncture, NMSU went on its aforementioned 19-4 run to take a 49-30 lead to the break.

In the second half, the Aggies led by as many as 26 with 13 minutes remaining. From this point FIU mounted a run of its own, outscoring New Mexico State 30-11 to close the game. 

As a team, the Panthers shot just 8-for-28 from distance, 44.4 percent from the field and made 6-of-12 free throws. New Mexico State shot it well, making 10 threes, seven of which came in the opening half. 

UP NEXT

The Panthers will take on Jax State on Tuesday, March 12 at 9 p.m. ET inside the Propst Arena in Huntsville, Ala. to open their play at the CUSA Championships.