After trailing by one at the end of the first half, the FIU Panthers (5-4) outscored the USF Bulls (4-6) 41-28 in the second half, beating the Bulls 65-53 on Monday night at the Sun Dome. Panthers' Guard Brian Beard led all scorers with 28 points, while the Bulls were led by Forward Isaiah Manderson's 12 points.
The Bulls trailed early in this game 4-0 with just over three minutes gone before Guard Terrence Samuel hit a jumper to give USF their first points of the game. That jumper sparked an 8-0 run & the Bulls grabbed their own four point lead. But this game went back & forth throughout the first half as USF went into the locker room leading 25-24 after 20 minutes, with neither team having a lead larger than four points.
Trailing by one at end of the half, FIU scored the first five points of the second half to grab the lead & after another 5-0 run, the Panthers never were in any threat to relinquish the lead.
The Bulls, who trailed by as many as 13 points, twice cut the lead to seven with under 90 seconds to go in the game, including on a dunk by Forward Tulio Da Silva. But USF couldn't score a field goal in the final minute & scored their lone point in the final minute on a free throw by Guard Stephan Jiggetts.
The Bulls (4-6) will try to inch closer to .500 when they take on Boston College Thursday night 7pm at the Sun Dome.