MIAMI (AP) - Raymond Cintron scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half and Shawn Jones hit a jumper with 1 second left to help Middle Tennessee turn a 17-point halftime deficit into a 66-64 win over Sun Belt Conference rival Florida International on Thursday night.
Cintron made 5 of 9 shots, including four from deep, and Marcos Knight chipped in 10 for Middle Tennessee (19-4, 11-1), which trailed 36-19 at the break after a 7-of-26 first-half shooting performance.
Middle Tennessee trimmed the deficit to 58-51 with 4:43 remaining before Cintron hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Knight converted two free throws to tie it 59-59.
Teams alternated buckets until Tymell Murphy of FIU (11-10, 6-6) tied it at 64-all with 26 seconds left to play.
Jones grabbed the offensive board after Knight missed a jumper with 5 seconds left, missed a layup, then grabbed his own rebound before hitting the game-winner.
| Scoreboard | |||
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
| Middle Tennessee (19-4) « | 19 | 47 | 66 |
| Florida International (11-10) | 36 | 28 | 64 |
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| Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| J. Sulton, F | 22 | 4-8 | 1-2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| N. Hunter, F | 17 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| K. Hammonds, G | 30 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| B. Massey, G | 29 | 3-6 | 3-7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| M. Knight, G | 27 | 2-6 | 6-6 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| R. Cintron | 22 | 5-9 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| S. Jones | 21 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| J. Gallman | 17 | 1-6 | 0-2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| T. Knight | 12 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| J. Jones | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 24-53 | 10-19 | 39 | 15 | 17 | 66 | |
| 45.3% | 52.6% | ||||||
| Florida International Golden Panthers | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| T. Murphy, F | 35 | 8-13 | 2-4 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| T. Akomolafe, F | 25 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| J. Frink, F | 18 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| M. Smith, G | 37 | 4-10 | 1-1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| C. Bell, G | 19 | 1-10 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| M. Porcher Jimenez | 36 | 4-8 | 3-4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| D. Hill | 23 | 1-4 | 2-4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| I. Jurkovic | 4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Ferrales | 3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Totals | 23-54 | 9-15 | 30 | 13 | 16 | 64 | |
| 42.6% | 60% | ||||||
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