Jeremy Allen led FIU in points in their overtime loss to Louisiana.
By: Malcolm Shields / Staff Writer
The Panthers have played some of their best basketball of the season on the road. On Jan. 14, the Panthers trailed for most of the game against Louisiana. In final minutes, the Panthers took advantage of a Ragin’ Cajuns scoring drought and executed 9-2 run in the final three minutes to force overtime, but were unable to complete the comeback as they fell to Louisiana-Lafayette 87-81 in overtime.
Jeremy Allen led the Panthers with 22 points. Phil Taylor and Dominique Ferguson followed with 19 points and 10 points respectively for FIU.
“At the end of the day, it’s another loss. We scored the ball a little bit more tonight,” Head Coach Isiah Thomas said. “We were just unable to pull one out on the road tonight.”
Due to Louisiana inability to convert on its free-throws in the second half, the Panthers only trailed 67-63 with 1:05 remaining in the game. On an inbounds pass, Taylor drilled a three-pointer from the right wing to cut the deficit to one.
After ULL made one of two free-throws on the following possession to extend the lead to 68-66 with 20.3 seconds remaining in the game, the Panthers tied the game on a follow-up layup by Brandon Moore with six seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
“We always go the fight in us and we responded. We clawed back,” Allen said. “At the end of the day, a loss is still a loss.”
In overtime, the Panthers took its first lead of the game on a Deric Hill three-pointer. The Ragin’ Cajuns countered with consecutive three-pointers by Josh Brown to give Louisiana a 77-73 lead. The Panthers struggled to execute offensively in final minutes as Louisiana made its free-throws to close out the game, at the Cajun Dome. Brown finish with 23 points for Louisiana.
“We have to do a better job locating shooters on the defensive end,” Taylor said.”
After trailing at halftime 35-32 to Louisiana (9-10, 3-2 SBC), the Panthers allowed the Ragin’ Cajuns to extend their lead by nine early in the second half at 43-34. The Panthers countered with a 10-4 run to trim the Louisiana lead to 47-44.
The Panthers, who played its seven consecutive game without leading scorer DeJuan Wright, picked up the scoring slack. The Panthers received an offensive boost from its bench as Hill, Cameron Bell and Gilles Dierickx played major minutes. “Their energy was great,” Thomas said. “Our guys played pretty decently.”
Led by Darshawn McClellan and his 28 points, the Panthers had trouble containing the forward inside for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
FIU (4-13, 1-4 SBC) went six minutes midway in the second half without a field goal, which allowed Louisiana to extend its lead into double-digits. The Panthers also dealt with foul trouble as Ferguson, Moore and Dierickx fouled out late in the game.
“We just did not have enough bigs to combat theirs,” Thomas said.
The Panthers next game will be on Jan. 19 in Mobile, Alabama as they will face South Alabama.
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