Middle Tennessee closes regular season with win

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — Kevin Kanaskie scored 16 points and Middle Tennessee built a big first-half lead en route to an 82-58 victory Monday over Florida International.

Middle Tennessee (16-11, 8-6 Sun Belt Conference) opened the game with a 20-6 run and led 42-27 at halftime.

Florida International (8-19, 4-10) trailed by double figures the entire second half. The Blue Raiders’ biggest lead was 18, at 80-52 with 1:50 left on a jumper by Marcus Morrison.

Reserves Kyle Young and Bud Howard scored 12 points each for Middle Tennessee, which already had wrapped up the No. 2 seed for the Sun Belt tourney later this week.

Ivan Almonte led Florida International with 23 points, Ismael N’Diaye had 15 and Chris Fuller 12.

Middle Tennessee shot 50.8 percent from the floor to 42.6 percent for the visitors.

After the Blue Raiders’ early spurt, the closest Florida International got was 31-22 with 5:04 left in the half on a basket by N’Diaye.