Men's Basketball Pulls Away from Wilberforce, 88-57

Saturday, December 1

Oxford, Ohio

2:00 p.m.

Miami University

4-4

Wilberforce

0-5

Wilberforce

Miami (OH)

Men's Basketball Pulls Away from Wilberforce, 88-57

12/1/2018 5:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Wilberforce Box (PDF)Photo Gallery

Jalen Adaway leads four in double figures with 18 points

OXFORD, Ohio – The Miami University men's basketball team overcame a slow start to cruise to an 88-57 victory over Wilberforce on Saturday. The RedHawks improve to 4-4 on the season, while the Bulldogs are 3-6.

After shooting at a 41.0 percent (16-for-39) clip in the first half, Miami shot a blistering 63.3 percent (19-for-30) in the second half. For the game the RedHawks hit 50.7 percent (35-for-69) of their shots.

Sophomore forward Jalen Adaway led four players in double figures with 18 points. Senior guard Darrian Ringo found Adaway for several highlight reel dunks, as he had a season-high 12 assists to go with six points.

Miami also cleaned up on the boards Saturday, outrebounding Wilberforce 48-30. That included 16 offensive caroms. Redshirt senior forward Aleks Abrams had 14 of those rebounds, including six offensive.

The Red and White's shots were not dropping early as the Bulldogs took a 6-3 lead into the first media timeout. Playing for the first this season, a triple from sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman-Lands tied the score at eight. Despite a three-pointer from sophomore guard Nike Sibande and a pair of buckets from redshirt sophomore forward Precious Ayah, Miami found itself down, 19-17, with 9:50 remaining in the first half.

A three-pointer from Sibande followed by a jumper by freshman guard Mekhi Lairy finally got the RedHawk offense on track. Ringo found Adaway and Brown for dunks and Brown for a trey to help complete a 14-0 run that made it 31-19 with 5:55 to go.

The Bulldogs scored the next four to pull within eight at 31-23, but back-to-back layups from Brown and freshman forward Elijah McNamara started Miami on a 10-0 run to take a 41-23 lead into the break. The RedHawks outscored Wilberforce 24-4 over the final 9:50 of the period.

The second half began with Ringo finding Adaway for an alley-oop dunk. He then found Brown for a triple in the corner. A Ringo steal, followed by another Adaway dunk made it 50-26. Baskets by Abrams, Brown and Adaway helped make it a 19-3 run to start the period and gave the RedHawks a 60-26 advantage with 15:10 to go.

Wilberforce cut the deficit down to 25 at 66-41 over the next five minutes. A triple from Sibande and a layup from Abrams started Miami on one final run. Coleman-Lands drained a three-pointer and then found redshirt sophomore guard Milos Jovic for a triple to give the RedHawks their largest lead at 81-44 with 5:09 to go. The Bulldogs drained some three-pointers later, but Miami closed out the 88-57 victory.

Sibande finished with 16 points for Miami. Brown had 14 points and six rebounds. Ayah set a new career-high with 10 points. Abrams added seven points and two blocks to his 14 rebounds.

The RedHawks return to action Wednesday when they travel to Wright State. Tip time is at 7 p.m. and it will air live on ESPN3.