Second Half Rally Falls Short at FIU, 64-56

Tuesday, February 3

Miami, Fla.

7:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

8-11, 1-7CUSA

FIU

11-10, 4-4CUSA

Florida Atlantic

FIU

2/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Feb. 3, 2015

Box Score
FAU-FIU Box Score

MIAMI, Fla. - Justin Massey scored 16 points and the Florida Atlantic University men's basketball team mounted a furious effort in the second half but the Owls came up on the short end of a 64-56 score in a loss to FIU on Tuesday.

FIU (11-10, 4-4 C-USA) scored 13 of the game's first 15 points. The Panthers stretched the lead to 36-14 on Dominique Williams' three-pointer with 29 seconds to play in the half. Marquan Botley ended the first half with a buzzer beater for the second game in a row to cut the lead to 36-16 at the break.

The lead ballooned to 28 early in the second half before FAU (8-11, 1-7) started to chip away at the advantage. A Justin Raffington layup cut the lead to 15 with just under six minutes to play, but the Owls then went three minutes without a field goal and the Panthers did just enough down the stretch to hold off the comeback attempt. Raffington had his 12th career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Kelvin Penn pulled down a game high 11 rebounds.

The Owls return to Boca Raton to host UTEP on Thursday, Feb. 5. Thursday's game begins at 8 p.m. and will air on ASN.

Ken Lavicka will have the call on fausports.com. All FAU games will be carried on ESPN West Palm 106.3, which has an APP for the Smart Phone platform.