Panthers fight off late Blue Raider push

Saturday, January 28

Miami, Fla.

6 PM

Middle Tennessee

-139,65 CUSA

FIU

-1111,56 CUSA

Middle Tenn.

FIU

1/28/2023 8:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Thomas Donley, MT Athletics

MIAMI – Middle Tennessee cut what had been a 13-point FIU lead to two with just under five minutes to play Saturday, but the host team finished strong in an 82-74 victory at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. FIU (11-11, 5-6 Conference USA) shot 50 percent from 3-point range in the second half to put the game away.
The Blue Raiders (13-9, 6-5 C-USA) scored 13 points off of nine second-half turnovers, and Elias King scored eight of his 11 points in the final two minutes to keep his squad in the game, but FIU fended off every MTSU run.
Eli Lawrence led the Blue Raiders with 16 points. Camryn Weston's five rebounds were a team high. Weston and DeAndre Dishman paced MTSU with three assists each.
By the Numbers

100: Teafale Lenard, Jr.'s first block of the game was the 100^th of his career, making him the fifth Blue Raider to reach the century mark.

6: Lawrence's six made free throws were a career high.

18: Lawrence led MTSU in scoring for the 18^th time in his career.

Blue Raider Notes

The Panthers improved to 10-4 at home.
The loss was MTSU's first at FIU since January 18, 2020.
The Blue Raiders have lost back-to-back games for the first time all season.

Thoughts from Head Coach Nick McDevitt

"We press a lot; they press a lot. We try to force turnovers; so do they. We were able to force 19 turnovers and had 16 ourselves. We just didn't win that battle by enough… I just thought they made more plays, clearly, than we did. They outrebounded us. We had too many ill-advised turnovers in the first half… [I'm] disappointed in our focus in big moments. I thought we were lackadaisical."

Up Next

The Blue Raiders return home Thursday to take on UTEP at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU with 94.9/95.1 The Fan carrying the radio broadcast.

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