HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A little good has come out of all the bad things that have happened to the Miami University men's basketball team over the last few weeks.
''John Estick has become a leader,'' Miami coach Charlie Coles said on his postgame radio show.
Estick led Miami to 71-54 victory over Marshall here Wednesday night. Estick, a 6-foot-7 junior, scored 13 points and pulled down 18 rebounds. He was 6-of-7 from the floor.
Damon Frierson led Miami with 25 points. He became the 26th MU player to score more than 1,000 points in his career, pushing his total 1,006.
The RedHawks (9-7, 3-5) broke a three-game losing streak. Marshall falls to 6-9 and 3-5.
Before the game, Estick spoke in the locker room.
''He said, 'Coach, we're going to win the game,' '' Coles said. ''I said, 'Don't say that.' He said, 'That's what we're going to do.'
''He played his part.''
The RedHawks broke open a close game in the second half by shooting 68 percent in the second half.
Marshall was still within three at 49-46 with 8:48 to go. But the RedHawks went on a 9-0 run - the two coming on a Frierson slam - to take 58-46 lead. The Thundering Herd would not get closer than eight the rest of the way.
Miamiy shot 51 percent overall. They had been shooting 38.1 percent over the last three games.
Coles was more pleased with the defense and rebounding. Miami held Marshall to 37.5 percent shooting and outrebounded the Herd 39-37.
''We wanted to defend and outrebound them,'' Coles said. ''We did that. We only outrebounded them by two, but we'll take it. That was our best defensive effort in a long time.''
Miami got another strong effort from Anthony Taylor. He had 17 points, five assists and just one turnover. He had turned it over seven times against Kent the last time out.
Taylor has scored 35 points in the last two games after scoring only 20 in the previous three.
''Anthony played great,'' Coles said.
MIAMI (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Lethunya 27 3-10 0-0 2-4 1 4 6
Estick 40 6-7 1-1 5-18 2 3 13
Ensminger 30 1-1 0-0 3-9 0 3 2
Taylor 37 8-16 1-2 1-3 5 1 17
Frierson 40 8-18 8-8 1-2 3 3 25
Chapman 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Lackaff 14 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 6
Smith 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Allendorf 9 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 0 0
Szczerbiak 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 29-57 10-11 12-38 13 15 71
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Percentages: FG-.509, FT-.909. 3-Point Goals:
3-14, .214 (Lethunya 0-2, Taylor 0-4, Frierson
1-4, Lackaff 2-4). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked
shots: None. Turnovers: 14 (Frierson 5, Estick 4,
Lethunya 3, Ensminger, Taylor). Steals: 7 (Estick
2, Frierson 2, Taylor 2, Lethunya).
MARSHALL (54)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
King 30 4-8 0-1 4-4 1 3 9
Wright 33 9-17 1-5 9-13 1 2 19
Mckelvey 35 3-9 0-0 3-8 0 2 6
Burgess 37 4-14 1-1 0-2 7 2 12
Young 33 3-11 0-1 2-6 2 3 6
Gray 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Morton 7 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
Dobbs 13 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 1 0
Carafelli 5 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
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TOTALS 200 24-64 2-9 18-37 12 14 54
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Percentages: FG-.375, FT-.222. 3-Point Goals:
4-16, .250 (King 1-2, Wright 0-1, Burgess 3-9,
Young 0-3, Dobbs 0-1). Team rebounds: None.
Blocked shots: 3 (Wright, King, Morton).
Turnovers: 16 (Young 4, Dobbs 3, Gray 2, King 2,
Mckelvey 2, Morton 2, Burgess). Steals: 5 (Young
2, Burgess, King, Wright).
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Miami 26 45 - 71
Marshall 23 31 - 54
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 4,508. Officials: Sam
Lickliter, Mike Foote, Tim Fogarty.
Miami game coverage
Kent 66, Miami 65 Jan. 18, 1998
Akron 64, Miami 51 Jan. 15, 1998
Toledo 76, Miami 56 Jan. 11, 1998
Miami 72, Eastern Michigan 64 Jan. 9, 1998
Western Michigan 63, Miami 47 Jan. 6, 1998
Miami 81, Central Michigan 65 Jan. 4, 1998
Bowling Green 72, Miami 59 Dec. 30, 1997
Syracuse 72, Miami 53 Dec. 14, 1997
Miami 71, LaSalle 66 Dec. 13, 1997
Miami 80, Xavier 72 Dec. 10, 1997
Miami 85, Virginia Commonwealth 75 Dec. 7, 1997
Miami 102, IUPUI 75 Dec. 2, 1997
Miami 66, Wisconsin-Green Bay 46 Nov. 26, 1997
Miami 94, Dayton 86 Nov. 23, 1997
Tennessee 75, Miami 74 Nov. 18, 1997
