“When you’ve only played two games in a month, it’s hard,” said the fourth-year coach, whose seen two MAC games postponed this month because of COVID-19-related protocols. “You want to get consistent play from your team. I think we will continue to get better and settle into roles.”
Fourth-year junior forward James Beck, despite giving away two inches to the Cardinals’ rotating centers, came off the bench to set career highs with 17 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. He logged his other one in the seasonopener against North Dakota State. He led a Miami (5-4, 2-2) effort that produced a whopping 23-4 advantage in second-chance points.
“It started in practice – going hard all week preparing to play the game” the 6-foot-8 Beck said.
Owens considers Beck to be one of the victims of Miami’s scheduling issues.
“I’m just proud of him,” Owens said. “He’s one of those guys who battles. To see him come off the bench and play that way – he was just active. We were finally able to see the athleticism that we hadn’t seen for a couple of weeks. Start-stop, start-stop doesn’t help a guy like that. He did good things at both ends of the floor.”
The RedHawks also outscored Ball State (4-4, 4-3). 25-6 in points off turnovers.
“You want to cash in when you have the opportunity to score off turnovers and when you’re in transition – when you have the advantage,” Owens said.
The game was Miami’s first since a 78-61 MAC loss at Ohio on Jan. 12. The RedHawks’ game scheduled for this past Saturday was postponed. Miami is due to face Bowling Green Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in a game postponed from earlier this month before traveling to play Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
This was the second delay for Miami this season. The RedHawks were off from Dec. 20 through Jan. 1, but that didn’t help Beck handle this delay.
“This one actually brought me down a little bit more,” he said. “It’s hard to get into a rhythm and then lose it and find it again. It’s a matter of getting back into a rhythm.”
Senior forward Dalonte Brown, honored in a brief pre-game ceremony after becoming at Ohio the 37th player in program history to score at least 1,000 career points, also scored 17 points. Junior guard Mekhi Lairy finished with 12 points and five assists. Junior guard Isaiah Coleman-Land chipped in with 10 points.
Third-year sophomore guard Myja White and junior forward Eli McNamara made their first starts of the season.
Miami didn’t lead until Lairy sank two free throws for a 37-36 advantage 33 seconds into the second half. That was the first of five lead changes in the first eight minutes of the half before Coleman-Land gave Miami the lead for good with two free throws for a 49-48 lead with 12:10 left in the game. Lairy made six consecutive free throws in the final 33 seconds to help the RedHawks pull away.
Ball State led for the entire first half, twice by as many as seven points. Miami cut the lead to one point four times but misfired on several chances to take the lead.
“We just had to stay positive and together and keep fighting on every possession,” Beck said.
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