Dec. 10, 2009
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CINCINNATI - A scrappy and defensive Miami University men's basketball team gave No. 19 Cincinnati all it could handle Thursday night at U.S. Bank Arena, trailing by just two points with five minutes to play, but the RedHawks were unable to snag the lead as the Bearcats snuck away with the 63-59 victory.
Senior guard Kenny Hayes scored a game-high 19 points while sophomore forward Julian Mavunga and junior forward Nick Winbush each pitched in 13 points, as the trio nailed seven of Miami's nine trifectas with the two forwards combining for 12 rebounds.
Miami (2-7) was within single digits for the majority of the game, trailing Cincinnati (6-1) by 10 for just a few seconds with a minute to play, but rallied to close within four by the final buzzer. The biggest difference was at the free throw line where the Bearcats were 21-of-32 from the charity stripe while the 'Hawks got to the line just three times, making two freebies.
Cincinnati steadily built a nine-point lead by the 10:17 mark of the first half, 15-6. Miami staged a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to pull within two or the Bearcats, 17-15. The RedHawk run was powered by layups from Mavunga, Hayes and junior guard Rodney Haddix II and capped by a sophomore guard Kramer Soderberg 3-pointer.
The Bearcats pushed their lead back to seven points, 22-15, with 6:15 remaining. But Miami came back again, pulling within one point, 24-23, by the 1:43 mark on an 8-2 surge. Winbush drained a trey and a jumper, while Mavunga also knocked down a 3-pointer. Neither team would scored over the remaining minutes giving the Bearcats a one-point edge into the half.
In the second half, Cincinnati again built its lead to nine points, 39-30 by the 14:20 mark and again led by nine points with 10:51 to play, 44-35. Using a 10-3 run, off treys from Hayes and Winbush and a pair of buckets from Mavunga, the RedHawks closed within two points by the 6:13 mark, 47-45. A pair of Hayes free throws with five minutes remaining again put the RedHawks within two, 49-47, but eight unanswered points by the Bearcats over the next four minutes pushed the UC lead to double digits with just under a minute to play, 57-47.
Miami went 5-for-5 from the field over the remaining seconds, including draining a pair of treys in the final flurry, but was only able to overcome the Bearcat lead and dropped the four-point decision.
Lance Stephenson led the Bearcats with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Miami returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 13, hosting Wright State at 3 p.m. as part of Rivalry Weekend.
