Rutherford, Filer lead FAU past FIU for 1st C-USA win, 73-64

Jan 7, 2017, 04:25 pm

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Nick Rutherford and Adonis Filer combined to score 27 points and Florida Atlantic held on to beat Florida International 73-64 Saturday afternoon in a battle between teams in search of their first win in Conference USA play.

Florida Atlantic (5-9, 1-2) built a 10-point lead in the first half, taking a 40-30 advantage into intermission and led 64-51 with under seven minutes to play.

Eric Nottage's layup with 46 seconds left cut the lead to five, 69-64, but Florida International (4-12, 0-3) turned the ball over twice in the final 38 seconds and Adonis Filer converted four free throws to put the game away.

Rutherford hit 5 of 10 shots from the field to score 14 points and Filer, in addition to his 4-for-4 from the line late, hit 4 of 11 shots from the field to tally 13.

Michael Kessens scored 21 points to lead Florida International.