Win and Loss at the Start of Bonus Play For Men’s Basketball

Alex Rivera/Staff Writer

In the first week of conference bonus play, the FIU Panthers played at home against North Texas and Charlotte. With the win and loss, the Panthers sit fourth in the C-USA standings.

After over a week without playing a game, the Panthers hosted the North Texas Mean Green as their first game in bonus play. Earlier this season, the Mean Green delivered the Panthers their first loss of the season and since then, have dominated the conference. Before the game, North Texas had a record of 12 wins and three losses.  For the Panthers, they ended their regularly scheduled season with eight wins and six losses, coming off a week of losses against Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss.

In their first meeting this season, the Mean Green played at home against the Panthers and won 74-56. This time at home, where the Panthers have only lost once this season, and with the unpredictability of conference games, there was a chance. The hope ended when the Panthers fell 10-0 in the first three minutes of the game. The closest the Panthers would get to the Mean Green was in the eight-minute of the game when Osasumwen Osaghae made the free throw that would narrow the lead to 18-14. Entering half time, the Panthers were behind 46-28.

Osaghae would lead the team in scoring, making 18 points. Such production could be manageable if other players made comparable points, but the closest was Cameron Corcoran, who scored 10 points. In the entire game, only two three-pointers were made. Osaghae also led the team in blocks, and Trejon Jacob led the team in rebounds. Ultimately, their performance would not lead to much, as FIU fell 78-59.

For their second game, the Panthers when to Charlotte for a rematch against the 49ers. The first time the two sides played this season, the Panthers were out of contention in the second half of the game. That game would end 75-49 in favor of Charlotte at home. The game would be closely contested in the first half, ending 32-30 in favor of the Panthers. It was in the second half that the Panthers were able to run away with the lead, 10 minutes into the second half, FIU would have a 56-35 lead over the 49ers. The game would end with a Panthers win, 67-52.

Osaghae would lead the team in points again, scoring 19 points as well as leading the team with 12 rebounds. He would also lead the Panthers in blocks, maintaining his NCAA lead with a total of 113 blocks. Antonio Daye Jr. would score the second most amount of points, contributing 14 points. Jacob would rebound from his previous game, scoring 13 points, nine of which came from three-pointers. FIU would only get three free throws in the entire game, but they were able to score each one. 

With two more games left before the conference tournament, FIU is already outside of getting the first or second seed, which are currently held by North Texas and Western Kentucky. FIU sits at 9-7 along with Charlotte. FIU could get as far as third if they were to win their next two games. On the other end of that, if the Panthers are satisfied with their fourth-place standing with its first-round bye, they would need Charlotte to lose their next two games and at least win one game. 

Wednesday, the Panthers will play the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in Ruston for the second time in less than a month. In that first game, the Panthers lost 60-57, in a game that was always within reach for either team and came down to possession time. The Bulldogs are coming off a 95-91 loss in Western Kentucky and a narrow win over North Texas. 

The last game for the Panthers will be at home against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center, the site where the Panthers were able to get a much-needed win against a higher-ranked team 81-76. This will be the last and only game the Hilltoppers will play in their regular season. WKU came off their loss to North Texas and a loss Charlotte. Their only win so far in the conference bonus play was against Louisiana Tech at home. 

This week will be a deceive week for the Panthers, where they have the opportunity to secure the first-round bye in the C-USA tournament, and with a combination of wins and Charlotte losing their next two games. 

The Panthers will play Louisiana Tech in Ruston Wednesday at 7:30 p.m and will play at home against Western Kentucky on Saturday at 7 p.m.