Miami University
West Virginia
Slow Start Sinks Miami at West Virginia, 82-46
12/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- Stymied by a season-high 26 turnovers, Miami University's men's basketball team (6-4) suffered an 82-46 loss at West Virginia (8-2) on Saturday afternoon.
West Virginia quickly built a double-digit lead by the 13:50 mark in the first half, 18-8 off a Wellington Smith trey. Miami trailed 20-10 before the Mountaineers rattled off 10 straight points to take a 30-10 lead at 8:19. WVU rounded out the first 20 minutes, outscoring the RedHawks 17-12 to take a 47-17 lead at the half.
WVU shot an impressive 58.1 percent from the floor in the first half, while the RedHawks hit just 26.3 percent of their shots from the floor.
With WVU holding a 54-21 lead with 16:07 remaining, Miami put together an 11-0 run, spurred by a pair of sophomore forward Nick Winbush 3-pointers, a senior guard Carl Richburg layup and two senior forward Michael Bramos free throws, to close the gap to 22 points by the 12:59 mark, 54-32. But West Virginia would not relent and eventually built its lead to a game-high 41 points with 3:49 remaining, 82-41.
Miami scored the final five points of the game to make the final score 82-46. The RedHawks came back to shoot 45.5 percent from the field in the second half, while WVU shot 41.9 percent.
Bramos led Miami with 14 points, while Winbush added 11 points. WVU had been outrebounding opponents by more than 10 boards per game, but Miami came up just two boards shy of the Mountaineers. Senior guard Eric Pollitz led the RedHawks with seven boards.
Da'Sean Butler led all scorers with 28 points. Darryl Bryant tallied 16 points, while Alex Ruoff chipped in 15 points and eight assists for the Mountaineers.
Miami had a 10-day layoff before traveling to Northwestern State for an 8 p.m. (ET) on Dec. 30.
