MIAMI, Fla. --- The Global Sports Shoot-out ends with an 80-59 loss for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at FIU in U.S. Century Bank Arena. Chattanooga is now 2-5, while FIU improves to 4-1.
Josh Odem (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Troy Cage (Baton Rouge, La.) combined for 23 points off the bench with 13 and 10, respectively. Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) had 12 points to pace the starters.
DeJuan Wright led the Golden Panthers with 18 as five FIU players ended up in double figures. Phil Gary, Jr., and Marvin Roberts had 15 apiece, while Tremayne Russell had 13 and Eric Frederick added 11.
The Panthers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Up 9-7 at 15:08 after Chattanooga center Jeremy Saffore's jumper in the paint, FIU scored the next eight points to take a 10-point lead, 17-7 on a Roberts free throw.
Chattanooga cut the margin to four, 17-13, on a three-pointer by Keegan Bell at 9:32. However, FIU answered with a 12-3 run to jump out to a 29-16 advantage on Gary's free throw with 5:01 to play in the opening half. The Golden Panthers ended the half up by the same 13-point margin, 34-21, in a sloppy period that featured 25 turnovers, 15 by the Mocs.
A layup by Russell at15:24 made it 48-32 as FIU threatened to run away with the game. UTC scored seven points on three of its next four possessions. Wattad and Odem treys sandwiched a DeAntre Jefferson (Bloomington, Ill.) free throw to cut it to nine, 48-39, with plenty of time on the clock, 12:27 remaining.
But the comeback was not meant to be. Russell's three-ball four minutes later at 8:27 capped an 11-3 run to push the lead to 17, 59-42. The Mocs never got closer than 14 before falling 80-59.
FIU missed just nine shots after intermission making 59.1 percent (13-22) from the field and 50 percent (4-8) from three-point range. Its 13 steals is the second highest total against UTC this season behind Louisville's 19 (11/22).
The Mocs won the rebounding battle 39-34 behind eight from Chris Early. Southern Conference assist leader Bell had six to go with three steals. Odem had three steals as well.
After seven games in 16 days, Chattanooga is off until Thursday, Dec. 2, when it opens SoCon play with Appalachian State. Game time is 7 p.m., and fans can follow all the action via Chattanooga All-Access on GoMocs.com. Live video, audio and stats are available as well as over the airwaves on ESPN 105.1 FM in the Chattanooga area with the "Voice of the Mocs" Jim Reynolds.
GoMocs.com is the official website of the Chattanooga Mocs. The Mocs can also be followed on their official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ChattanoogaMocs, or on Twitter, www.twitter.com/GoMocs.
