Final Score: FIU 75, Louisiana 70

Miami, FL (Sports Network) - Tymell Murphy tallied a career-high 28 points to go along with 15 rebounds to lead the FIU Panthers to a 75-70 win over the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in Sun Belt Conference action at U.S. Century Bank Arena.

Murphy shot 11-of-14 from the floor for FIU (6-7, 2-3 Sun Belt). Marco Porcher Jimenez scored 10 points off the bench and Jerome Frink had 12 rebounds.

Bryant Mbamalu paced Louisiana (6-11, 3-3) with 23 points, while Elfrid Payton narrowly missed a triple-double, registering 13 points, 10 assists and nine boards. Alan Michael-Thompson scored 11 points off the bench.

Nine FIU players scored at least two points in the first half as the Panthers shot 50 percent from the floor and led 40-31 at halftime.

A Murphy layup with 9:31 remaining gave FIU a 60-50 advantage, but Louisiana responded with a 14-4 run to tie the game, 64-64, with 2:44 left to play. The Panthers answered with a Malik Story 3-pointer a minute later, which proved to be the game-winner.

The difference came at the foul line. While FIU shot just 55.3 percent from the stripe, it made 21-of-38 free throw attempts, while Louisiana was only 12- of-22.