Miami University
Wichita State
Wichita State Tops Miami, 55-46
12/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2005
WICHITA, Kan.--In the first game of a two-game, three-day road stretch, Miami University's men't basketball team suffered a 55-46 loss at Wichita State on Tuesday evening. Miami drops to 4-3 overall, while the Shockers move to 9-2 on the season and remain undefeated at home.
Senior center Nate VanderSluis and freshman forward Michael Bramos started the game by draining 3-pointers for the RedHawks to give Miami a 6-2 edge by the 16:45 mark. The Shockers came back to knot the game twice--6-6 and 8-8--but a junior guard Doug Penno 3-pointer at 11:47 and a VanderSluis layup with 10:30 left gave Miami three-point leads, the last at 13-10. Penno tossed in another layup with 8:19 remaining to hand the RedHawks a 15-13 advantage, but that would be Miami's last lead. Over the next 3:30, WSU went on a 9-0 run to capture a 22-15 advantage. A senior guard Josh Hausfeld trey and a junior center Monty St. Clair layup pulled the RedHawks within two, 22-20, with 2:04 left, but a Kyle Wilson 3-pointer and a free throw by PJ Couisnard gave the Shockers the 26-20 lead at the half.
A Couisnard trey with 11:03 remaining in the second half would hand Wichita State a nine-point lead, 40-31. Miami staged an 8-0 run off a 3-point play and a trey by St. Clair and a layup by Penno to pull within one with 8:40 remaining, 40-39. Couisnard scored the next eight points for the Shockers as they went on an 8-0 run to post a 48-39 lead with 3:41 left. Over the final minutes of the game, WSU would push its lead to 10 twice, but would win by nine, 55-46.
Penno paced the RedHawks with 13 points, going 3-for-5 from 3-point range, while VanderSluis tallied a team-leading seven boards.
Wichita State was led by Couisnard's 21 points, while Wilson followed with 15 points and Paul Miller added 12 points. Wilson and Miller also recorded nine boards apiece.
Miami has little time off as it travels to Michigan to take on the Michigan Wolverines on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m.
NOTES: Junior forward Nathan Peavy played just four minutes due to illness ... Wichita State outrebounded the RedHawks 43-26 ... VanderSluis swatted a career-high-tying three blocked shots ... redshirt freshman forward Eric Pollitz scored his first collegiate basket.
