DaytonDailyNews.com

CLEVELAND — It was anything but a typical victory for the Miami RedHawks, but it probably was their most important.

They hope it stays that way for about 24 hours.

Miami will take on the juggernaut of the Mid-American Conference, the top-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes, tonight, March 14 in the tournament semifinals at 9:30 at Quicken Loans Arena.

The RedHawks (17-14 overall) advanced by beating the Ohio Bobcats 74-61 in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13.

"The kids just fought. We've been fighting all year," said Miami interim head coach Jermaine Henderson, whose team trailed 10-1 in the opening minutes but worked its way back with a 13-0 run, and then finally clinched the win with an 11-0 run in the closing minutes.

"When they go to Champaign, Ill. and play a Big Ten team (Illinois) who's playing as well as they can play and beat them, that's a big deal."

It also was a different kind of big deal — and a little astonishing — that Miami senior Tim Pollitz, the school's career field goal percentage leader, had one of those broad-side-of-the-barn nights Thursday when he struggled to hit any shot, no matter how close He was 2-of-11 and scored four points.

Never fear. Pollitz's teammates were not about to let him end his college career like that.

Michael Bramos scored a game-high 23 points, Kenny Hayes added 12, Tyler Dierkers recorded a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, Nick Winbush came off the bench to score 10 points and Alex Moosmann drilled three 3-pointers off the bench.

"I never saw Tim miss so many lay-ups, but we were there to have his back tonight," Bramos said, "and we live to play another day."

Miami had gotten no points from its bench during the first-round win over Buffalo. Against the Bobcats, the RedHawks scored 19 points off the bench.

The RedHawks also feel better about their rebounding now. After being out-rebounded 44-25 against Buffalo, they came away with a 42-31 advantage against the Bobcats.

"Anytime you play OU, it's going to be a battle underneath," Dierkers said. "You have to go into the game with the mentality that you're going to fight and scrap and do anything you can to get the ball.

"(Wednesday) night was pretty embarrassing," he added. "I took that personal. It was good to see us plus-11 on the boards."

Jermone Tillman led Ohio (19-12) with 17 points and Leon Williams totaled 15 points and 11 rebounds, but the Bobcats struggled with their shooting all night, hitting only 37.9 percent from the field. Bubba Walther, the MAC's most prolific 3-point shooter, was 2-for-8 from the arc.

Ohio had taken a 32-31 lead late in the first half, but Winbush, who came into the game having scored just 55 points all season, hit two straight 3-pointers. Moosmann had done the same thing earlier in the half.

"(The Bobcats) went to a zone and Moosmann hit two big threes and Winbush hit two big threes," Bramos noted. "It was really good to see our bench play so well tonight."

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