Late Comeback Falls Short Against KSU, 85-75

Thursday, March 10

Cleveland, Ohio

4 p.m.

Miami University

14-18,8-12MAC

Kent State University

22-9,16-4MAC

Miami (OH)

Kent St.

Late Comeback Falls Short Against KSU, 85-75

3/10/2022 6:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

CLEVELAND, Ohio—A furious comeback that had the RedHawks within six in the final minute of the game came up short as the Miami University men's basketball team (14-18) dropped an 85-75 decision to No. 2 seed Kent State University (22-9) on Thursday afternoon in the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Buckets from Precious Ayah and Dae Dae Grant and a trey from Kamari Williams helped Miami take a quick 7-3 lead against the Golden Flashes.
Miami held an 11-10 edge at the 12:38 mark off an Isaiah Coleman-Lands jumper, but KSU pushed ahead to a 41-26 lead.
The RedHawks closed out the half scoring six unanswered to close within 41-32 at the intermission. Grant scored five of those late first-half points for the RedHawks.
Grant sunk a triple to open the second-half scoring and extend the RedHawk run from the end of the first half to nine unanswered, further shrinking the KSU lead to six, 41-35. KSU then went on a 12-0 run to further its lead and eventually extended its advantage to a game-high 19 points with 3:40 to play.
Miami staged a late 18-6 flurry with nine points coming from Mekhi Lairy and six points from Ayah to close within six with 32 seconds to go, 81-75, but the Golden Flashes hit late free throws to push ahead to the double-digit win.

NOTES:

Ayah led the RedHawks with 16 points, going 7-of-8 from the floor and knocking down both free throw attempts, and added six rebounds.
Grant chipped in 15 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Lairy scored 14 points, all coming in the second half.
Elijah McNamara tallied a season-high 13 points.
Williams paced the RedHawks with eight rebounds and notched nine points.

UP NEXT:
Miami concludes its stint in the MAC Tournament.