DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — Charlie Coles liked the Sunday Special he got from Michael Bramos so much that the Miami University coach wants to order the same thing from the menu for his next game.

"I have to be hard core, but it's time. I'm expecting more of this ... I want more of this," Coles said after Bramos scored a season-high 34 points in Miami's 68-63 victory over Kent State Sunday, March 1 at Millett Hall.

Miami's 6-foot-5 senior lit up the Golden Flashes with nine points in the final three and a half minutes, including a long 3-pointer which gave the RedHawks the lead for good with 3:28 remaining.

"Good all the way," Coles said of Bramos' shot. "This one when it left his hands, I knew it was good. I just knew."

"I felt like I got my legs into it, and when I've got my legs into it I feel I can shoot from a pretty deep range," said Bramos.

It was the most points for Bramos since his career high of 36 points at Dayton on Nov. 28, 2007.

The RedHawks (16-11, 9-5 in the Mid-American Conference) snapped a three-game losing streak on the strength of Bramos' shooting, which had been mostly on a downward spiral. Over his previous 17 games he had made 50 percent of his field goal attempts only twice.

Yet nobody seemed surprised by Bramos' offensive outburst.

"He was great," KSU first-year coach Geno Ford said of Bramos. "It's not surprising, a senior in (one of) his last home games.

"The last couple weeks his numbers haven't been great," Ford said, noting that it takes a lot of effort for Bramos to get open shots, "and he is required to guard, too. He was the difference in the game."

Kent State (16-13, 8-6 MAC) shot 54.2 percent in the first half, but never led by more than six and the game was tied at the break 30-30.

Then the points started pouring in from Bramos, who scored 16 of Miami's first 20 points of the second half.

"Boy, we're so happy we won that game," said Coles, whose team had lost three straight and four of its last five.

"We're had a rough time of it lately," he explained. "We lost not only some games but a player, Eric Pollitz (to a knee injury), a highly unselfish player who gave us so much. It was good to win. If lifts morale."

Antonio Ballard added 13 points for Miami, Tyler Dierkers recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Carl Richburg had a career-high nine assists.

Tyree Evans scored 15 points off the bench for the Flashes and Jordan Mincy finished with 14 points and four steals.