They followed up as the eighth seed with a 91-75 loss to top-seeded Toledo on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the MAC tournament at Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Arena.
Junior guard Morgan Safford, a transfer from Wofford, led four RedHawks in double figures with a game-high 21 points. Senior forward Anderson Mirambeaux, a transfer from Cleveland State, added 16. Sophomore guard and William and Mary transfer Julian Lewis finished with 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while fifth-year senior guard Mekhi Lairy scored 12 points.
The Rockets never trailed after getting off to a 5-0 lead while sending the RedHawks to their third straight first-round MAC tournament loss. Miami’s last tournament win was over Buffalo, 85-79, on March 9, 2020, in the team’s last game before post-season play was cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Toledo outscored Miami, 15-7, in points off turnovers, 38-30 in points in the paint and 23-10 in bench points.
The RedHawks haven’t won a MAC tournament championship since edging Akron, 53-52, on Alter-graduate Doug Penno’s banked-in 3-pointer at the buzzer in 2007.
The RedHawks finished Travis Steele’s first season as Miami’s coach with a 12-20 record, including 6-12 in the MAC.