TOLEDO - For Miami, there would be no anxious moments.
There were none Saturday, when the Redskins raced past Eastern Michigan for a 96-76 victory in the Mid-American Conference tournament final. There won't be any today, when the NCAA Tournament field is announced.
By the time the horn sounded Saturday, Miami knew it was an NCAA Tournament team. So players danced for ESPN's cameras, secure and overjoyed in the knowledge they had their first berth since 1995, and their first automatic bid to the Big Dance via the MAC tournament title since 1992.
''We cleaned it all up in one little series,'' senior forward Devin Davis said. ''It's good to get that monkey off my back. It's been dragging me for a little while now.
''It's a big win. We won it all-out.''
Davis earned tournament most valuable player honors, finishing the game with 16 points and 13 rebounds. In the three tournament games, Davis had 68 points and 39 rebounds.
Saturday's victory was as decisive - the Redskins were in control for good after racing to a 24-9 lead - as Miami's tourney run was improbable.
The Redskins were in fourth place in the MAC and had lost five straight league road games before closing the regular season with five straight wins.
A year ago, Miami lost in the MAC semifinals and had to settle for a National Invitation Tournament bid after a 21-7 season. They are 21-8 this year but not on the bubble. That's what made Saturday so sweet.
''It's my first time there,'' sophomore forward Wally Szczerbiak said. ''So I couldn't be happier.
''But I don't think our work is over. I think we can go in there represent the Mid-American Conference, play our best, hopefully play like we did tonight, knock off some teams and prove that we can play. We have a job to do.''
Miami did just that in its last NCAA appearance in 1995. The Redskins upset No. 4 seed Arizona, then took Virginia into overtime.
The way Redskins played Saturday, they may be capable of a similar run.
Miami's three-headed front court monster of Davis, Szczerbiak and Ira Newble scored 69 points on Saturday and 180 points in the three tournament wins. They averaged a combined 40.3 in the regular season.
Newble (27 points) and Szczerbiak (26) scored career-highs on Saturday.
Newble was 12-of-16 from the field; Szczerbiak was 10-of-12 overall, 3-of-4 on three-pointers; and Davis was 8-for-11 from the field.
''Devin, Ira and Wally are about as good a frontcourt as you can get at the mid-major level,'' said Miami coach Charlie Coles.
Miami shot .678 from the floor in the game.
''We came out fired up, attacked Eastern and got them back on their heels,'' Szczerbiak said. ''They weren't expecting us to really push it on them. We'd get a rebound and Rob (Mestas) pitched it out in the open floor, and that's why we shot the percentages that we did.''
Miami outscored EMU 50-16 in the paint thanks to crisp passes and sharp cuts to the goal. A team that averaged 13.4 assists over their previous 28 contests had 27 on Saturday.
Coles thought EMU was surprised Miami ran more off missed shots than turnovers. The Eagles turned the ball over only 12 times, but shot just .417 from the field.
''Nothing worked,'' said EMU coach Milton Barnes. ''The bottom line is you've got to make shots. We didn't do enough to create shots to counter what they were doing.''
EMU is hoping for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. But its 11-7 MAC record should relegate it to the NIT.
''I think a 22-10 record is deserving of something,'' Barnes said. ''I'll just sit and wait for what happens.''
Miami, which will find out tonight at 6:30 where they will play in the NCAA opening round, made sure Saturday they won't be in the position EMU is.
''I'm really looking forward to it,'' Szczerbiak said.
EASTERN MICH (76)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Zajac 27 1-7 0-2 0-3 2 1 2
Mills 28 4-10 1-4 1-2 3 2 9
Pennisi 13 0-1 2-2 2-2 0 4 2
Dial 37 12-20 4-4 3-5 1 1 31
Boykins 36 4-15 2-2 1-5 5 2 11
Head 26 5-9 1-2 3-3 0 2 11
Beeten 13 4-6 0-0 0-0 1 4 8
Eibeler 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Ezugwu 12 0-3 2-2 3-3 0 1 2
Chitikov 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 30-72 12-18 13-23 12 17 76
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Percentages: FG-.417, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
4-16, .250 (Zajac 0-2, Dial 3-4, Boykins 1-8,
Head 0-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: None.
Turnovers: 11 (Head 3, Pennisi 3, Zajac 2,
Beeten, Boykins, Dial). Steals: 5 (Head 2,
Boykins, Dial, Mills).
MIAMI (96)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Szczerbiak 35 10-12 3-3 1-9 4 2 26
Davis 34 8-11 0-1 5-13 4 2 16
Newble 36 12-16 2-2 3-4 4 2 27
Mestas 32 1-2 0-0 0-3 6 2 2
Frierson 24 2-4 2-2 0-0 7 4 6
Plum 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Allen 3 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
Taylor 10 2-5 1-2 0-2 0 1 5
Henderson 23 2-5 4-6 0-3 0 3 8
K Johnson 2 2-2 0-0 1-1 1 0 4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 40-59 12-16 10-36 27 16 96
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.678, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
4-12, .333 (Szczerbiak 3-4, Newble 1-1, Mestas
0-1, Frierson 0-1, Plum 0-1, Taylor 0-1,
Henderson 0-3). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:
2 (Szczerbiak, Davis). Turnovers: 20 (Davis 7,
Mestas 5, Newble 4, Taylor 2, Henderson,
Szczerbiak). Steals: 7 (Frierson 3, Newble 3,
Davis).
__________________________________
Eastern Mich 33 43 - 76
Miami 47 49 - 96
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Eastern Mich 1 (Bench). A:
4,564. Officials: Glenn Mayborg, Norm Nelson,
Mike Foote.
Tournament stories
MIAMI 84, WESTERN MICHIGAN 67 March 8, 1997
SEMIFINALS NOT KIND TO MIAMI March 7, 1997
MIAMI 75, KENT 65 March 5, 1997
SULLIVAN COLUMN March 5, 1997
HOT REDSKINS HOPE TO BEAT KENT THIRD TIME March 4, 1997
