MIAMI, Fla. – The Old Dominion men’s basketball team (14-4, 5-1 C-USA) defeated FIU (8-11, 2-4 C-USA) by a 64-54 score on Thursday night at FIU Arena. ODU has now won nine of its last 10 games.
Randy Haynes led ODU with 18 points.
The Monarchs started the second half on a 9-0 run, claiming a 37-28 advantage at the 16:33 mark. Old Dominion started the second half by outscoring FIU 22-8, taking a 50-36 lead with 7:11 remaining in regulation. The Panthers answered with an 8-0 run, cutting their deficit to six, 50-44, with 5:35 to play, but would get no closer as ODU claimed a 10-point victory on Thursday night. Old Dominion shot 54.2% (13-24) from the floor in the closing 20 minutes.
“I thought the second half was very workman like for us,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “The big difference in the second half is we were able to get some stops and also able to come up with some loose balls.”
Randy Haynes led three Monarchs in double-figures, scoring a game-high 18 points (6-8 FG, 4-5 3PT, 2-2 FT) to go along with six rebounds in 29 minutes of work. Trey Porter went for 15 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of action. Ahmad Caver finished with 12 points, nine assists (two turnovers), three rebounds, one block and one steal. Brandan Stith hauled down a game-high 10 rebounds to compliment four assists and two blocks, while B.J. Stith had eight points and six rebounds.
For the contest, FIU was held to 35.1% (20-57) from the floor and 32.0% (8-25) from deep, while connecting on just 37.5% (6-16) from the charity stripe.
ODU trailed 22-12 with 6:49 remaining in the first half, before closing the half on a 16-6 run to tie the contest at 28-28 at halftime, behind a half-high 10 points from Randy Haynes (2-3 3PT).
“The fact that we were able to scratch our way back to 28-28 at halftime after not playing well in the first half was huge,” Jones said.
Old Dominion will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 2:00 p.m. EST against FAU (8-9, 2-3 C-USA) in Boca Raton on C-USA TV.
“I told the guys after this game that this FIU game is done and we need to start thinking about FAU,” Jones concluded. “I remember FAU celebrating on our home court last year, so we owe them one. We need to get a win on Saturday.”
