MONROE, La. – Malik Smith scored 16 points, Tymell Murphy added 15 and Florida International scored 17 unanswered points in a late surge to defeat Louisiana-Monroe 67-58 Thursday night and win its third straight game.
The Panthers (16-12, 11-8 Sun Belt Conference), who had to rally in the last minute to defeat the Warhawks 76-73 on Feb. 2, trailed by 11 with 2:38 to go in the first half.
FIU then launched a 22-6 run spanning both halves and eventually grew its lead to 11.
Louisiana-Monroe came back to pull ahead 51-48 with 6:09 remaining. Still down by three with 5:33 left, the Panthers scored 17 straight points in the next 5 minutes, with six different players scoring.
FIU tallied 31 points off 21 Warhawks turnovers.
Jerome Frink added 13 points for the Panthers.
Trent Mackey scored 17 and Amos Olatayo 15 for Louisiana-Monroe (4-21, 3-16), which dropped its fourth straight game.
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