North Carolina Central got introduced to FIU's Marvin Roberts, and the Eagles probably wish they never had met him.

Roberts finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and even had three assists as Florida International defeated N.C. Central 83-73 at FIU's U.S. Century Bank Arena. Roberts' shooting, except at the free-throw line, was nearly unerring as he hit 8 of 11 from the field. At the line, he was only 4 of 9. Nevertheless, FIU coach Isiah Thomas said of Roberts, ``Marvin's the real deal as a basketball player.''

After an 0-3 start, FIU is 2-3, and Thomas said, ``We're learning and we're growing. We're starting to develop some type of identity on the offensive side of the ball. We're starting to understand our system better.''

The game was part of FIU's 2K Sports Classic tournament, which benefits Coaches vs. Cancer.

There were plenty of FIU weapons besides Roberts. Phil Gary Jr. scored 18 points, Antoine Watson had 14 and Stephon Weaver contributed 13.

That was just too many scorers for N.C. Central (1-3) to shut down.

The first half was back-and-forth, but FIU broke out of a 30-30 standoff to take a 36-30 lead into intermission. The final six points of the first half came on a Watson basket off a feed from J.C. Otero, and then an Otero basket off a feed from Watson, and that was followed by a Gary basket. North Carolina Central closed to 50-49 in the second half, but three consecutive layups -- two by Otero and one by Marlon Bright -- put the Panthers back up by 56-49.

With 9:23 left in the second half, FIU became the first team to take a double-digit advantage when Watson made a three-pointer for a 64-54 margin.

After that, the Panthers had little trouble keeping a safe margin -- the closest the Eagles came was closing the gap to six points.

-- BILL VAN SMITH