Shorthanded RedHawks Upset Huskies

Saturday, February 15

Oxford, Ohio

3:30 p.m. ET

Miami University

10-15,3-9MAC

Northern Illinois

15-11,8-5MAC

Team	1	2	F
Northern Ill.	27	33	60
Miami (OH)	31	34	65

2/15/2020 5:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Miami 65, Northern Illinois 60 Buy Tickets (Feb. 27 vs. CMU)Photo Gallery

Four different RedHawks scored in double figures in Saturday’s win

OXFORD – Playing without both Nike Sibande (13.3 ppg.) and Dalonte Brown (11.0 ppg.), the Miami University men's basketball team upset Northern Illinois 65-60 on Saturday afternoon in Millett Hall. Four different RedHawks scored in double figures in front of 3,811 in attendance.

Missing its top two scorers, the RedHawks were going to need offense from some unlikely sources. Isaiah Coleman-Lands led Miami with 15 points and was joined by Dae Dae Grant (11 points), Bam Bowman (10 points) and Elijah McNamara (10 points). Precious Ayah chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds. Bowman, Coleman-Lands and Ayah were part of a bench effort that outscored the Huskies' bench 33-4.

Miami had one of its best defensive efforts of the season, holding the Huskies to just 39.4% (21-of-53) from the floor and allowed just five three-pointers (5-of-16) all afternoon.

The RedHawks led 60-58 with 1:07 to play and following a missed three as the shot clock expired, the Huskies had the ball with 35 seconds to play with a chance to tie or take the lead. Seconds later Mekhi Lairy came up with the biggest defensive play of the game, stripping the ball from NIU's Eugene German.

Lairy extended the lead to three following a free throw and Coleman-Lands iced the game with two more from the charity strip with just seconds remaining.

Miami got off to a quick 15-7 start behind seven early points from McNamara and a pair of triples from Bowman.

Nice ball movement leads to a @32_markeith triple!

Watch Live: https://t.co/kI1tHgsrxa #RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/NwAzwIwmm0
— MiamiOH Basketball (@MiamiOH_BBall) February 15, 2020

NIU cut Miami's lead to 19-15 at the 9:48 mark, but back-to-back three-pointers from Isaiah Coleman-Lands extended Miami's lead back to double digits (25-15) with eight minutes to play in the first half. Coleman-Lands would add his third triple of the game late in the half as the RedHawks went to the locker room with a 31-27 advantage.

A DEEP three from @Zeke_11_Coleman puts us up 10 at 25-15 and forces a NIU timeout!

Watch Live: https://t.co/kI1tHgsrxa #RiseUpRedHawks pic.twitter.com/4SlBRTWLVb
— MiamiOH Basketball (@MiamiOH_BBall) February 15, 2020

The start of the second half was a defensive struggle for both squads, but a bucket by Milos Jovic pushed Miami's lead to 40-32 with 14 minutes to play.

An NIU triple cut Miami's lead to just 50-48 with 7:10 to play, but four straight Miami foul shots by Grant and Ayah pushed the lead back to six, 54-48. Miami maintained its six point lead following a three pointer from Lairy that brought the crowd to its feet with just over four minutes to play.