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Sports TwitterRedHawks have enjoyable trip to Mt. Pleasant
Thursday, January 25, 2007
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Tim Pollitz said that in terms of pure physical health, his best days are behind him.
"I'll never be back to where I was before the (knee) injury, physically," the Miami University junior forward said Wednesday night.
Extras
The Central Michigan Chippewas will have a hard time believing that, especially after watching Pollitz match his career high with 23 points as the RedHawks chopped the Chippewas 72-52 at Rose Arena.
It was the first road victory of the season for Miami, which improved to 8-10 overall and remained tied for second place in the Mid-American Conference East Division with Ohio and Kent State, all at 4-2 in the MAC. Central Michigan dropped to 7-11 overall and 2-4 in the MAC.
High times, low times
Pollitz drilled 10-of-16 field goal attempts and also handed off three assists for the RedHawks, who took control by scoring the final 11 points of the first half to take a 35-23 lead into the break.
Then Pollitz really turned it on, scoring 12 points over the first 10 minutes of the second half. By the end of the night, his season scoring average was at 12.9 points per game. It was the seventh consecutive game in which his average has increased.
It's a far cry from his performance early in the season, when he totaled eight points in his first two games while hitting just 4-of-18 field goal attempts.
"Tim's playing better as of late," Miami coach Charlie Coles said. "Tim got off to a rough start for physical reasons. He's got more of a rhythm now. He's not anxious anymore. Early in the year he was very anxious and he wasn't the Tim Pollitz of last year."
"A lot of (the improvement) has to do with my mental preparations," Pollitz said. As far as the knee goes, well, Pollitz just shrugged.
"It keeps getting swollen," he said. "I sit out at practice all the time. It gets inflamed because of the pounding."
Happy homecoming
"I really thought this was one of our better ballgames," said Coles, the former Central Michigan coach who greeted many Mount Pleasant friends before and after the game. "All around, maybe one of our top two games of the year."
Michael Bramos added 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the RedHawks, Nathan Peavy contributed nine points and five rebounds, Alex Moosmann went 2-for-2 from the 3-point line, and Doug Penno had four assists and two steals off the bench.
Coles said he doesn't concentrate so much on basketball when he visits Mount Pleasant "because there are so many things to think about up here, good things," and added that maybe that's why his Miami teams have been so successful in their games at Central Michigan.
"Sometimes you're better if you don't go crazy with basketball, and the players feel better. Maybe that's it."
Injured again
Sophomore point guard Carl Richburg did not make the trip to Mount Pleasant. He injured his shoulder against Ohio and is out indefinitely.
Richburg already had missed eight games with a sprained ankle.
Looking ahead
The RedHawks will seek their second straight road win Saturday night at MAC West Division-leading Toledo.
