NCAA News Wire
Georgia Southern 78, Florida International 72
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Georgia Southern stretched a four-point halftime lead into a 13-point advantage 10 minutes into the second half, then rode that cushion to a 78-72 victory over Florida International on Monday night in Statesboro, Ga.
After trailing 60-47 at the midpoint of the second period, the visiting Panthers managed to close the gap to 72-70 on guard Marco Porcher Jimenez’ 3-pointer with 1:27 to go, but the Eagles held on by hitting five of six free throws in the final minute.
Junior guard Jelani Hewitt, who led the Eagles with a career-high 33 points, hit two of two attempts, guard Mike Hughes two of two, and guard Curtis Diamond one of two down the stretch.
Forward Adrian Diaz’s dunk that made it 75-72 was FIU’s last basket.
Diaz, a junior transfer from Kansas State, matched Hewitt for scoring honors with a career-high 33 points, 20 of them coming in the second half. He was the only Panther to score in double figures.
In addition to Hewitt’s output, Georgia Southern (3-1) got 11 points each from Diamond and forward Trent Wiedeman.
FIU (3-1) outshot Georgia Southern from the field, hitting 44.1 percent to the Eagles’ 37.7 percent. Both teams struggled from the behind the 3-point arc, with the Panthers making only five of 21 (23.8 percent) and the Eagles seven of 24 (29.2 percent).
The Eagles enjoyed a 44-35 rebounding advantage.
