Late Mistakes Cost Panthers Game Against North Texas

(Kristi Camara/The Beacon)

By Rico Albarracin/ Asst. Sports Director

rico.albarracin@fiusm.com

With NBA scouts in the building, the Panthers could not show off their true talents.

Phil Taylor led the Panthers with 16 points as they fell to the North Texas Mean Green 68-61 on Feb. 9, 2012. DeJuan Wright chipped in with 13 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five assists. It just wasn’t enough.

“It really came down to the little things,” head coach Isiah Thomas said. “In the second half, we had a couple of break downs that they took advantage of.”

Neither the Panthers nor the Mean Green could connect on a consistent level shooting-wise, until the second half, where FIU shot .361 percent from the field compared to North Texas’ .591 percent.

The two teams were even in just about every statistical category except assists, where the Mean Green led 18-7, and rebounds, a 44-30 advantage for North Texas.
FIU came flying out of the starting gate, with Taylor scoring nine of the Panthers’ first 11 points of the game.

The Panthers maintained the lead for the first 15 minutes of the game, until freshman forward Tony Mitchell threw down an emphatic dunk to give North Texas a 18-17 lead.
Even as they trailed, the deficit was never greater than three, as they went into halftime down 26-23.

Taylor and Wright came out of the break attacking the basket, giving the Panthers a 33-32 lead with 16:22 left in the game. North Texas tightened up the defense, forcing the Panthers to miss six of their next nine shots, giving way for the Mean Green to connect on two three-pointers, to build a comfortable 58-46 lead.

“Those three’s changed the game,” Wright said.

A late surge by the Panthers cut the lead down to six with one minute to go, but it was too little, too late, as North Texas held on for the win, 68-61.

“At the end of the game, we didn’t make plays and they did,” Thomas said.

 

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