North Texas 68, FIU 61

Tony Mitchell scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as North Texas beat Florida International 68-61 on Thursday night for their third straight victory over the Panthers. North Texas (14-10, 7-4 Sun Belt Conference) held a 47-46 lead after FIU's Phil Taylor converted two free throws with 8:08 left to play. But North Texas rattled off 11 straight points to go ahead 58-46 with 4:31 remaining. Alzee Williams, who finished with 16, scored eight points during the run and Niko Stojiljkovic added a trey. North Texas controlled the battle of the boards 44-30 and held FIU to just 35.9 percent (23 of 64) shooting. The Mean Green outscored the Panthers 42-38 in the second half, where they shot 59.1 percent (13 of 22). Taylor led FIU with 16 and DeJuan Wright had 13 for the Panthers (7-16, 4-7) who have lost seven straight at home.