Feb. 12, 2006

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio--It took double overtime, but Miami University's men's basketball team pulled out a 67-63 win over Ball State University on Sunday afternoon at Millett Hall. The RedHawks won their fourth straight game and improved to 13-8 overall and 10-3 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Cardinals dropped to 8-13 overall and 4-9 in league action.

It was the 10th time in the all-time series the teams have gone to overtime, with the RedHawks picking up their seventh overtime win against the Cardinals, and the second straight time Miami and Ball State have been in overtime at Millett Hall.

Junior Monty St. Clair tied a season-high with 12 points and hauled in a career-high nine rebounds and swatted a career-high two blocked shots to pace the RedHawks. Senior Josh Hausfeld and junior Nathan Peavy added 12 points apiece for the RedHawks, while sophomore Tim Pollitz snagged a career-high 12 rebounds.

D'Andre Peyton led all players with 20 points and added a team-best 10 boards, while Skip Mills added 14 points and six rebounds.

A powerful dunk by freshman Michael Bramos with 8:54 to play in the first half capped a 15-3 Miami run to hand the RedHawks a 19-7 lead. Hausfeld nailed a trey and added a layup to start the run, while St. Clair tossed in a layup and drained back-to-back 3-pointers to spur the RedHawk rally. A three-point play by Chris Ames at the 6:15 mark followed by a Brandon Lampley 3-pointer with 5:09 remaining put the Cardinals within six points, 21-15. Miami was able to extend its lead to 13 points off a sophomore Chad Troyer 3-pointer at the 1:45 mark, 30-17, but Lampley drilled another trey with 1:05 remaining to cut the Miami lead to 10 points heading into the half, 30-20.

A pair of senior William Hatcher free throws with 10:37 remaining in the first half gave Miami a 10-point lead, 40-30, but the RedHawks saw their cushion dwindle over the remaining minutes of the half as the Cardinals rounded out the second half on a 17-7 surge. Skip Mills hit a jumper with 1:40 remaining to knot the contest, 47-47, and the game would head into overtime.

The teams started overtime by trading free throws, each going 1-for-2. Miami led by as many as three points in the first overtime period, the last coming with 22 seconds remaining of a pair of junior Doug Penno free throws, 57-54. But again Mills would knot the game, draining a key trey with 12 seconds left to send the game into a second overtime, 57-57.

Ball State took its first and only lead of the game when Mills hit another 3-pointer with 56 seconds remaining in the second overtime, but Miami's Hatcher hit a pivotal jumper with 27 seconds left to give the RedHawks a one-point cushion, 64-63. Pollitz pulled down a big defensive rebound of a missed Ball State jumper and was fouled quickly. With 10 seconds left on the clock Pollitz nailed two key free throws to put the RedHawks up three, 66-63. The Cardinals launched a 3-pointer that was off the mark with three seconds left, and St. Clair snatched the defensive rebound and was sent the line with one second remaining where he connected on one of his two charity tosses to make the final score, 67-63.

Miami continues a four-game homestand when it hosts Ohio University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15 in a Battle of the Bricks Rivalry Series Game.

Notes: The win was Miami's sixth-straight against the Cardinals ... in the RedHawks' final regular-season game against the West Division, Miami improved its record to 7-1 against West Division teams ... Miami moved to 5-1 in home MAC games this season ... Miami recorded its most blocked shots since Feb. 9, 2002, when the RedHawks blocked eight shots against Toledo.