’Hawks to face slumping Huskies

Fletcher not expected in the lineup vs. Northern Illinois, which has lost 5 straight MAC games.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer 12:09 AM Saturday, February 6, 2010

OXFORD — Charlie Coles isn’t optimistic about senior center Adam Fletcher returning to Miami University’s men’s basketball lineup today, Feb. 6.

But the Miami coach said he does feel good about the RedHawks being able to take up the slack with Fletcher on the bench two days ago in their 56-54 victory at Western Michigan.

“It definitely was a positive,” Coles said Friday, Feb. 5, after arriving at Northern Illinois University, where the RedHawks will put their three-game winning streak on the line against the not-so-hot Huskies, who have lost five straight.

Fletcher sat out Thursday’s game with an injured left quadriceps.

“Based on that injury, I think it would be a stretch for him to play (Saturday),” Coles said.

Fletcher’s place in the post was taken on Thursday by sophomore Julian Mavunga, who responded with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, and junior Nick Winbush, returning to the lineup at forward, had seven rebounds and a block, though he shot only 1-for-9 from the floor.

“Julian Mavunga had an all-around good game and really did a good job defensively,” Coles said. “He missed some nice-looking shots, but overall it was really a good game. We couldn’t have won without him.”

The RedHawks will face a Huskies team that won its first four Mid-American Conference games but has lost its last five by an average margin of 14.3 points.

“In January I would have said they’d be one of the top four teams in the league,” Coles said. “I still think they have the ability to do that.

“I’m kind of hoping they don’t hit their stride against us,” he added. “They’ve got four guys who can score. It’ll be another test.”

NIU is led by 6-foot-5 junior guard Xavier Silas, the MAC’s second-leading scorer at 19.9 points per game. Another threat is 6-2 junior guard Damion Anderson (11.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists).

Sean Kowal, the Huskies’ 6-11, 246-pound center, leads the MAC in field-goal shooting at 53.3 percent, but the team ranks 11th overall in the league in field-goal percentage (40.6), 12th in 3-point percentage (29.3) and 11th in scoring defense (72.5 points per game).