MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Florida Memorial men's basketball team erased a 16-point deficit but fell short to Middle Georgia State, 92-83, Friday in the season opener for both teams.

FMU struggled defensively in the first half, allowing 51-percent (24-of-47) from the field, including 50-percent (4-of-8) from beyond the arc.

In the second half MGA's Ijon Owens connected on a 3-pointer and matched the Knights' largest lead of the game, 66-50, with a little over 12 minutes left to play. The Lions fought back over the next nine minutes and cut the Middle Georgia lead to four points two different times. Omar Outar hit a trey with 3:33 left to play and closed the deficit to 79-75, but a basket by De'Miria Glover sparked a 6-0 run by the Knights and pushed the lead back to double digits, 85-75.

Florida Memorial went on another run late in the game as Jordan Collins' 3-pointer capped an 8-2 spurt to make the score 87-83. Middle Georgia, however, went 3-of-4 from the charity stripe over the final 40 seconds to hold off FMU and seal the win.

Jordan Martin led all scorers with 21 points while Outar added 20 on 6-of-12 shooting. Off the bench, Collins produced 17 points on 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. Mubashar Ali pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds.
 
For Middle Georgia, Antony Edwards led four Knights in scoring with 16 points.
 
The Lions will wrap-up play in the Jimmy Faulkner Classic tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 2) when they play the host Eagles at Noon ET.