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No thrillers lately

Maybe the Miami RedHawks are just getting tired of close games.

Following a long string of last-minute dramas, the RedHawks' last two games have been decided by an average of 19 points. They beat Ball State by 22 and then lost at Kent State by 16.

That's a far cry from the previous five weeks, which saw 8-of-9 Miami games decided by five points or less. The most memorable:

• Jan. 7 — Tim Pollitz scores with 2.3 seconds left, Miami beats Kent State by two.

• Jan. 11 — Akron's Dru Joyce scores with 2.1 seconds left, Miami loses by two.

• Jan. 30 — Doug Penno hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer, Miami wins by three over Northern Illinois.

Fouls and fumbles

The RedHawks had a couple abortive attempts at a comeback Wednesday night in their 61-45 loss at Kent State and both involved Nathan Peavy.

The first occurred midway through the first half. Miami had trailed 11-0, but a couple baskets by the 6-foot-8 senior forward helped bring the RedHawks back to within seven.

Then an official blew his whistle and pointed to Peavy. It was his second foul.

Miami's coaches pleaded that Peavy had not even made contact on the play — had not, in fact, touched his man on either foul. Not surprisingly, the official was unmoved, so Peavy was sent to the bench for nine minutes and the RedHawks found themselves trailing 28-16 at halftime.

Early in the second half Miami cut the margin to nine and was about to make it seven, but a pass to Peavy under the basket glanced off his hands and went out of bounds. Two minutes later the Golden Flashes were back up by 14.

"When I actually thought we would come back, we never got any loose balls," Miami coach Charlie Coles said. "None.

"It looked like we had a wide-open lay-up," he added, "and my man Peavy didn't catch the ball."

It wasn't just Peavy. Although he did have three turnovers, all of the RedHawks had trouble getting a grip on the ball in key situations. Tim Pollitz, Eric Pollitz, Alex Moosmann, Michael Bramos, Doug Penno and Tyler Dierkers all had two turnovers.

A look at Lampley

In Miami's 66-44 romp over Ball State last Saturday, former Hamilton High School standout Brandon Lampley saw 2 minutes of playing time late in the game for the Cardinals and came up with a steal.

The 6-foot sophomore has played in 10 games this season, including a 20-minute stint on Jan. 9 at Western Michigan, where he scored five points but fouled out.

On Wednesday, Lampley contributed two points and two assists in Ball State's 57-55 victory at Northern Illinois.

— Pete Conrad