Florida International University rattled off a 12-2 spurt during a one-minute span in the second half and went on to post an 82-74 victory over the University of Maine in a men’s college basketball game in Miami on Thursday night.
The Golden Panthers forced three turnovers with their pressure defense during that rally, which enabled them to turn a two-point deficit into a 55-47 lead with 12:06 remaining, and UMaine couldn’t get any closer than three points the rest of the way.
FIU improved to 5-9 while UMaine fell to 8-6.
Junior guard Jaidon Lipscomb had eight of the 12 points with a pair of 3-pointers and a jumper.
“That turned the tide of the game,” said UMaine head coach Chris Markwood to Black Bear Sports Properties/Van Wagner play-by-play man Ron Lisnet.
UMaine did narrow the gap to 63-60 on a Peter Filipovity basket with 8:38 remaining, but the Golden Panthers answered with a 9-3 run to expand the lead to 72-63 with 5:54 left.
Senior guard Jauvante Hawkins had seven of the nine points.
UMaine brought it to 72-67 on a pair of Jaden Clayton free throws with 4:05 remaining, but Lipscomb hit a 3-pointer a minute later just before the shot clock buzzer went off to swell the lead to eight, and Hawkins salted the game away with three free throws in the final 58 seconds.
Hawkins finished with a game-high 20 points to go with five rebounds and three assists.
Arturo Dean had 14 points, six rebounds and three steals, and George Pridgett Jr. produced 11 points. Lipscomb finished with 11 points and Jayden Brewer chipped in with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds. Seth Pinkney blocked three shots and hauled in six rebounds to go with his three points.
Senior forward Filipovity paced the Black Bears with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Graduate student guard Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish had 13 points, a game-high five steals and three assists; junior forward A.J. Lopez wound up with 13 points and three rebounds and sophomore guard Clayton registered 10 points, a game-high nine assists and three rebounds.
UMaine was without injured junior guard and leading scorer Kellen Tynes (foot). He also leads the team in steals (25) and is second in assists with 44.
FIU, which had lost four games by six points or less including an 86-80 loss to then-No. 13 Miami, outrebounded UMaine 42-26 and shot 50.8 percent from the floor.
UMaine shot 47.4 percent from the floor.
FIU shot 34.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc compared to UMaine’s 27.8 percent showing.
UMaine will play again on Friday, Dec. 29, when it travels to Minneapolis to take on the University of Minnesota at 7 p.m. FIU will next play on Dec. 30 at Utah Tech. That has a 5 p.m. tipoff.
