LIU Brooklyn 69, Florida International 58

The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds blew a 15-point first-half lead but managed to regain command in the second half to post a 69-58 victory over the Florida International Golden Panthers on Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

After leading 29-14 with just over five minutes left in the first half and 30-25 at the break, the Blackbirds fell behind the visitors 43-39 less than eight minutes into the second period.

Guard Elvar Fridriksson scored 10 consecutive points to put the Blackbirds up 50-45 with just under 10 minutes left in the game, and then they went on to get their lead back into double digits at 58-46 with 6:43 remaining.

The Panthers got the deficit down to seven points, 60-53, on guard Dennis Mavin’s three-point play with 4:17 left, but that was their last hurrah. The Blackbirds quickly got their advantage back up to 12 points with less than two minutes left.

Fridriksson led all scorers with 17 points and guard Gerrell Martin added 15 for the Blackbirds, who won their third in a row after starting the season 0-7.

Guard Joel Hernandez came off the bench to record a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and guard Martin Hermannsson also was in double figures with 10 for LIU.

Guard Dennis Mavin led the Panthers in scoring with 12 points. Guards Tashawn Desir and Marco Porcher Jimenez added 11 each for FIU, which dropped to 6-5 for the season.

The difference in the game came at the free throw line, where LIU was 16-of-24 to FIU’s 6-of-9 performance.