MONROE, La. -- FIU rallied past ULM
for a 67-58 victory on Thursday evening inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The
Panthers (16-12, 11-8 SBC) used a 17-0 run in the final five minutes to go from
three down to 14 up in the final minute. The nine-point win is the most
lopsided in the series' history.
Sophomore
Trent Mackey led the Warhawks with
17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Mackey knocked in three 3-pointers
on the night and is now just one 3-point make shy of moving into the top 10 in
school history on the single-season list.
Junior
Amos Olatayo added 15 points on
7-of-13 shooting while freshman Kyle
Koszuta made three 3-pointers and finished with nine points. Junior Jayon James added six points, nine
rebounds and a team-high seven assists.
The
Warhawks (4-21, 3-16 SBC) led 53-50 on a layup from junior R.J. McCray with 5:33 to play, but that is the final shot they
would until the final seconds. FIU used a suffocating defense to real of 17
straight points - six from the free-throw line - to build a 67-53 lead with 31
seconds remaining.
Mackey
scored the final five points of the game for the Warhawks for the final margin.
Malik Smith led three FIU
players in double-digit scoring with 16 points. Tymell Murphy came off the bench to score 15 points and Jerome Frink chipped in 13 points and
six rebounds. The Panthers finished with a 22-11 advantage in bench points.
FIU
led 5-4 at the arrival of the first media timeout as the two teams began to get
into its rhythm.
A
7-1 run capped by McCray's 3-pointer gave ULM a 12-5 advantage with 13:55 remaining
in the first half. The Warhawks' momentum continued as junior Millaun Brown collected a tip-in layup
to make it a 16-8 ULM lead.
Koszuta
knocked down a baseline 3-pointer to extend lead to 21-13 at the five-minute
mark. Mackey followed with his second deep ball of the night as ULM's strong
half continued.
ULM
shot 42 percent in the first half and led 30-23 behind Mackey's 10 points.
FIU
opened second half on a 14-2 run and led 37-32 at the 15:32 mark. As the
turnovers piled up, ULM was forced to call a timeout with the visitors leading
41-34.
ULM
responded with a mini-run to get within six at 45-39 at the 11-minute mark.
Koszuta hit his second triple to make it 47-44. James followed with an
offensive rebound and a putback to pull the Warhawks within one point.
ULM's
12-1 run was highlighted by Koszuta's shot-clock beating 3-pointer to give the
Warhawks a 51-48 lead.
FIU
retook the lead on a Tola Akomolafe 3-pointer
at the 3:42 mark and never looked back. The Panthers shot 57.7 percent in the
second half after shooting 39.1 percent before the break.
ULM
wraps up the regular season on Saturday with a home game against rival
UL-Lafayette at 4 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game as part of
ULM's efforts to raise awareness for breast cancer.
