Middle Tennessee men’s basketball (16-14, 10-9) prevailed in another tight contest against Florida International University (14-16, 7-12) 73-67.
The Blue Raiders won their fourth consecutive game and locked up a top six seed in the Conference USA tournament in Huntsville, Alabama.
Defense was the name of the game, as the Blue Raiders held the Panthers to 65 points, the fewest allowed since the Blue Raiders played Western Kentucky University on Valentine’s Day.
Tre Green had another solid performance versus Florida International leading the way in scoring for the Blue Raiders with 255 points and finishing 50% from three.
“He answered the bell,” head coach Nick McDevitt said on WGNS radio. “We were half way through the first half and we had nine points and he had them all, and he kept us in that game early.”
Blue Raider Kamari Lands had two blocks midway through the second half to keep FIU from extending its six-point lead as MTSU rallied to cut into the deficit. Lands ended the contest with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
The first half started out slow for the Blue Raiders on offense, struggling to score in the paint and to get anything past the Panthers’ defensive front. However, Tre Green kept the Blue Raiders in it. Florida International went into the half up 34-33 over Middle Tennessee.
The Blue Raider offense continued to struggle to open the second half. Florida International went up 49-40 early, and continued its lead late into the half, going up 54-48. The Blue Raider offense rallied back to cut the Panthers’ lead to just three points.
The Blue Raiders took the lead 59-56 with five minutes left in the second half, and once they took the lead, they didn’t look back. The Blue Raiders dominated the rest of the game on both sides of the ball, holding the Panthers to just nine points. With the win, MTSU stole a top-six seed for the CUSA tournament in Huntsville.
“I thought our guys showed some toughness and some grit when it really mattered,” McDevitt said. “We got down nine in the second half and for the rest of the game we went 33 to 18 and I thought at that point our guys responded and played well.”
The Blue Raiders return to action against Missouri State in Springfield, Missouri, on Saturday at 2 p.m. CDT.
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