By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, DEC. 11, 2017 – Isaiah Manderson went 6-for-8 from the field with a team-leading 12 points, but the Bulls as a whole couldn't find their shooting touch in a 65-53 loss to Florida International on Monday night.

USF (4-6) shot 33 percent from the field (20-for-60) and committed 18 turnovers in the first of a five-game home stand at the Sun Dome. FIU (5-4) scored 18 points off takeaways and got a career-high 28 points from Brian Beard Jr. in the Panthers' third straight victory.

Coming off a career best 14-point performance at Appalachian State, Manderson matched his career high with six made field goals and scored eight of his 12 points before the break. The redshirt junior forward from Bronx, N.Y., is 11-for-19 from the field in the past two games and has shot 55 percent through four outings this season.

Tulio Da Silva (Formiga, Brazil) grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to help USF finish with a 45-40 edge on the boards and scored all six of his points in the second half. Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md.) scored all 10 of his points after the break and sank three of USF's four three-pointers.

Playing its first game in nine days, USF shook off a slow start to grab a 25-24 halftime lead thanks to Terrence Samuel's go-ahead jumper with 18 seconds remaining. Samuel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished with nine points, tied his career high with nine rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists.

FIU seized the momentum right after the break with a 10-2 run and led by as many as 13 points less than six minutes into the second half. USF cut its deficit to seven in the final minute before dropping its fourth straight game.

Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory's thoughts on FIU's game-changing start to the second half:
"Give FIU credit. To start the second half, they really came out and executed their offense well. I thought we defended them exceptionally well the first half. I think they made five of their first seven shots and we had a couple poor executions, a couple turnovers in that mix. Then it was kind of fighting an uphill battle the whole way."

Gregory on Tulio Da Silva stepping up with a career-high 17 rebounds:
"I commend Tulio because I've been on him about his rebounding, especially on the offensive end. He gets five offensive rebounds, 17 total."

Gregory's thoughts on the team moving forward:
"We've got a long way to go, but we're not too far off in some areas. We just need to get some consistency. Consistency in our work ethic on a daily basis, which will then give us the best opportunity to have consistency come game time."
 
Key Stats
50 – The Panthers pulled out the victory by shooting 50 percent in the second half.
34 – FIU took advantage of high-percentage shots by scoring 34 points in the paint.
18 – FIU scored 18 points off 18 USF turnovers.

Notable

• USF fell to 13-3 in its all-time series with FIU and 9-1 in games played in Tampa. This was the teams' first meeting since the Bulls posted a 77-69 win on Nov. 26, 2007.
• FIU has won three straight games for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Up Next
USF continues its five-game home stand with a test against Bethune-Cookman on Thursday at 7 p.m. Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com.
 
About USF Men's Basketball
The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, Gregory was introduced as the 10^th head coach in program history. He previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory brings nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship, to Tampa.

USF has retired three numbers in its 47-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids and appeared in the NIT eight times.

For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.