Stephenson’s clutch shooting pushes Panthers past Missouri State

From beginning to end, Corey Stephenson played the hero in Florida International’s 70-67 home win over Missouri State on Saturday.

With mere seconds on the clock, on a day in which the Panthers were struggling from the three-point line, Stephenson drained a long-range basket from the ocean part of the court to deliver a long-awaited victory.

Stephenson scored 17 points with six rebounds. Julian Mackey led the Panthers with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Named Olayinka scored 13 points with a team-high eight rebounds and Zawdie Jackson added 11 points for the Panthers.

Stephenson’s college career started at Cal-State Bakersfield. His best of the two seasons came last year where he averaged 11.4 points shooting .452 from the floor and an .805 free throw shooting percentage.

His shooting output from the three-point line expanded when he transferred to FIU. Within a year, Stephenson went from making 16-of-37 threes with the Roadrunners to shooting 60-of-143 from the arc for the Panthers.

Missouri State was led by Kobi Williams, who scored 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-10 from the three-point line. Trey Williams Jr. also scored 12 points for the Bears, who are 0-5 through February.

Stephenson set the tone early for the Panthers with a contested layup and slam dunk in transition to give FIU an 8-4 lead within the game’s first five minutes.

Down 16-8 12 minutes into the game, the Bears roared back with a 9-4 run, powered by Williams’ six points, to come within three points of the Panthers. A mid-range jumper by Eric Dibami gave FIU some separation, leading 22-17 with four minutes left in the first half.

Mackey forced a turnover with a steal and punctuated his play with a slam dunk just before the end of the first half. Despite finding no success at the three-point line (0-for-8) the Panthers went into halftime leading 29-22 in a game dominated by defense.

The Bears clawed back through the first five minutes of the second half to tie the game 35-35. Zaxton King scored six of the Bears’ last eight points during the run. He finished with nine points.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Stephenson and Mackey put the Panthers back on top 48-45 with 9:45 remaining in the game.

Stephen again with a mid-range jumper to keep FIU ahead 52-50 with 7:09 left in the game.

Back-to-back baskets by Mackey canceled out a three-pointer by Williams Jr. and maintained FIU’s 59-56 lead with 3:21 remaining.

FIU finished the game shooting 3-for-13 from the three-point line, but each one that went in made the difference for the Panthers. Both teams shot 67 percent from the free-throw line as well.

FIU (13-14, 6-10), no longer in the C-USA doghouse, travels to Sam Houston State on Feb. 26.