OXFORD, Ohio— Miami's Anderson Mirambeaux scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half, but Evansville held on to edge the RedHawks 78-74 in the season opener for both teams Monday night.
 
Morgan Safford added 12 points for Miami (0-1), while Mekhi Lairy chipped in 11 points and a game-high five assists. Kenny Strawbridge scored 23 points to lead Evansville (1-0).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Billy Smith started the scoring for Miami with a three-pointer from the left wing, giving the RedHawks a 3-2 advantage in the first minute. However, Evansville took advantage of cold Miami shooting in the early going to jump out to a 19-5 lead with 12:10 to play in the half.
• The Red and White rallied from there, putting together a 10-2 run to pull within 21-15 on a Ryan Mabrey three-pointer and Mirambeaux putback.
• Evansville briefly pushed the margin back to double digits at 32-21, but Eli Yofan immediately responded with a triple. The RedHawks battled back to only trail 36-32 at intermission after a pair of Lairy free throws with 2.9 seconds remaining.
• Mirambeaux dominated down low to start the second half, scoring with a post move on the first possession to set the tone. He made three field goals before the first media timeout, although UE still led 47-42.
• The Purple Aces inched back out to a double-digit lead as the half wore on, going ahead 61-50 at the midway point of the period. Miami answered back with a 10-0 run, capped by a triple from Safford, to cut the lead to 61-60 at the eight-minute mark.
• Evansville maintained its advantage down the stretch, going up 75-69 with a minute to play before Mirambeaux cut the lead in half with a clutch three-pointer. However, his game-tying attempt with 15 seconds left was no good, and UE ended up escaping Millett Hall with a 78-74 victory over the RedHawks.

       
NOTES

• Lairy played a career-high 40 minutes and moved into 27th place on Miami's career scoring list with 1,193 points.
• Four starters were making their Miami debuts: Mirambeaux, Safford, Mabrey and Smith.
• Yofan and Jaquel Morris also played in their first career games for the Red and White.
• Yofan had a game-high three steals.
• Mirambeaux led Miami with eight rebounds.
• The RedHawks shot 55.6% from the floor in the second half (15-27).
• Miami shot 80% from the foul line (16-20), led by Mirambeaux's eight makes in 10 attempts.

 
UP NEXT:
The RedHawks will host Goshen College (Ind.) Saturday, Nov. 12 at Millett Hall. Tip time is set for 1 p.m. in Oxford.