Mavunga's error heats 'Hawks

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 8:29 AM Thursday, February 11, 2010

OXFORD — The worst thing Julian Mavunga did all night turned out to be one of the best things for the Miami RedHawks in their 55-47 victory over the Toledo Rockets on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at Millett Hall.

Mavunga fouled Toledo’s Justin Anyijong behind the 3-point stripe 5 minutes into the second half and Anyijong sank all three free throws to give the Rockets a 28-25 lead.

After that, Mavunga and the RedHawks caught fire, outscoring the Rockets 30-19 the rest of the way.

“After I got that foul, coach (Charlie) Coles got on me,” Mavunga said. “It was a dumb foul, to foul a jump shooter. I got mad at myself and I felt I had to make up for it.”

Hit and miss, and miss

The RedHawks continue to have their ups and downs with free throw shooting.

Miami had 12 more free throw attempts than Toledo, but hit just 63.6 percent of them (14-for-22). Antonio Ballard had the most trouble, going 3-for-8.

“Shoot more free throws than the opponent. That’s what we want to do,” Coles said.

“Right now Antonio’s getting fouled a lot, so we have to get him to make more free throws.”

Short on points

When Toledo took a 21-18 halftime lead over Miami, it marked the fifth time this season the RedHawks had scored fewer than 20 points over the first 20 minutes.

Miami also trailed Temple 36-16 on Dec. 8, trailed Milwaukee 26-18 on Dec. 19, trailed Kent State 24-11 on Jan. 12 and trailed Bowling Green 20-19 on Jan. 23.

“We’re a pretty good second-half team,” said Coles, whose RedHawks have come back to win three of those games, “but we’ve got to be a better first-half team.”

Short on numbers

Toledo arrived at Millett Hall with only seven scholarship players available for action.

Freshman forward Hayden Humes suffered a torn ACL during individual workouts in September and is sitting out the season with a medical redshirt, and junior forward Mouhamed Lo was suspended Jan. 26 for disciplinary reasons and has yet to be reinstated.

Notable numbers

Miami shot 68.8 percent from the field in the second half after shooting just 32.0 percent in the first half ... Larry Bastfield scored 10 points for Toledo and hit 5-of-7 field goal attempts. His teammates, however, went a combined 12-of-36 from the field.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

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