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UD vs. Northern Kentucky
Miami gets its first MAC win
Hayes gets RedHawks going, as 20-point effort leads way in 64-57 victory over Bulls.
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Monday, January 21, 2008
OXFORD — It's obvious that the Miami men's basketball team still has problems, but at least now a losing streak isn't one of them.
Junior guard Kenny Hayes scored a career-high 20 points and Tim Pollitz tallied 14 of his 18 points in the second half as the RedHawks outlasted the Buffalo Bulls 64-57 Sunday afternoon at Millett Hall.
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The victory, the first in the Mid-American Conference for Miami (7-9, 1-3 MAC), snapped a five-game losing streak.
"We've got a lot of work to do, but we were able to win today," Miami coach Charlie Coles said. "Hopefully our players feel better about themselves, and we can take a more positive approach in playing."
"We didn't really play the way we're capable of playing," Hayes said, "but we've got to stay positive and keep winning."
Pollitz, who also had eight rebounds, four assists and four steals, agreed.
"We didn't really play that great," Pollitz said. "We've just got to take from this game, especially the second half, that we got a lot of defensive stops. That's what Miami basketball is all about."
The RedHawks struggled from the free-throw line (19-for-31) and 3-point arc (1-for-12), blew several leads and saw Buffalo jump in front 44-43 midway through the second half.
But then Miami's defense held the Bulls to two points over a seven and a half minute span; during that time Pollitz scored eight points and the RedHawks regained the lead for good.
"We did it because today's Tim's and Eric's birthday," Hayes joked, referring to the Pollitz twins. "That's their present from us."
Eric Pollitz scored 10 points and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds. Teammate Tyler Dierkers tied a career high with nine rebounds.
Sean Smiley scored 13 points and Calvin Betts added 12 points and nine rebounds for Buffalo (6-10, 0-4).
"It was a defensive struggle, like we anticipated," Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon said, referring to the fact Miami shot 37.3 percent from the field and Buffalo shot 35. "Maybe the effort and intensity both teams put out affected the shooting."
