Box Score BATON ROUGE, La. – FIU men's basketball (1-2) couldn't contain LSU's (3-0) offensive attack in the second half, dropping it by a score of 98-81 on Thursday night, despite 25, 10 and 6 from
Corey Stephenson and 24 from
Julian Mackey.
"We were really competitive, but we didn't come here to only be competitive, we came here to win," head coach
Jeremy Ballard said. "We knew that LSU was very talented and very well-coached, but we came out the gate and gave ourselves a chance. We did a great job taking care of the ball, we did a great job on the offensive glass, but we did not do a great job keeping them off the offensive glass, and that's credit to how hungry of a team they are."
Stephenson started the night with a great back-door pass to
Hamed Olayinka, who converted on a slam for the early 2-0 lead. FIU's offense dried up for a stretch, but still kept itself within arm's length in the middle portion of the first frame. Falling behind by as much as 13, the Panthers clawed back. Stephenson hit a three at 10:40 to make it 24-16, and a subsequent steal and score by
Ashton Williamson forced an LSU timeout at 24-18.
FIU was not done, as Stephenson had a four-point spread to cut it to two and then both Mackey and
Ibrahim Olajuwon found the net to tie the game up. Trailing by eight in the final two minutes, Stephenson had five points on a dunk and a three near the end of the frame, heading into the break down by five.
Unfortunately for FIU, the offense dried up in the second half and LSU took advantage with several free throws and a 60 percent shooting rate. The Panthers shot sub-40 percent in the frame, falling behind by as much as 22 and not bringing it much closer for the remainder of the game. Despite this, Stephenson and Mackey continued to go off, with Mackey having 15 second-half points down the stretch.
Stephenson had a career night, scoring a career-high 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing six assists as well. He became the first Panther to have 25, 10 and 7 in a game since Ivan Almonte on 12/28/04 (25, 10 & 7 against Ohio). He's also the first Panther to lead the team in all those categories in a game this season, also recording his first double-double as a Panther.
Mackey joined him as the only double-figure scorer, notching a season-best 24 points on 9-13 shooting, the team leader in field goals. He and Stephenson are the first Panthers teammates to each have at least 24 points in a road game since 3/23/19, when Brian Beard Jr. & Devon Andrews each had 29 in an 87-81 win at Texas State.
Olayinka had nine points, and Olajuwon also had a breakout night, notching a career-best eight points on 4-5 shooting in the loss.
UP NEXT
The Panthers return home and will not leave Miami until 2026, taking on Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday the 18th.
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