MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Jason Stewart scored 12 points in overtime - after his foul allowed Central Michigan to tie the game with three free throws with no time remaining in regulation - and the Miami RedHawks beat the Chippewas 81-69 Saturday.
It was the second-straight game three opponents' free throws forced Miami into overtime. Fortunately, following an 81-79 victory over Marshall Tuesday night, it was the second-straight victory.
"I'm supposed to be taking it easy," said Miami coach Charlie Coles, who suffered full cardiac arrest last February at the Mid-American Conference tournament. "Two straight overtime games that end (regulation) the same way. Only we can do something like that. It's gotta be me."
CMU rallied from nine points down in the final 4:17, and got even when Jon Borovich made three straight free throws after Stewart's foul.
"It was called kinda quick in my mind, but on the road you expect that," Stewart said. "I don't blame the referee."
Stewart made sure it was not a call he would be playing over in his mind.
He made three three-pointers in the first three minutes of OT to give the RedHawks an eight-point lead and they were never threatened. "We kept our composure in the overtime," Stewart said. "I was getting good looks the entire game. In overtime, I got the same looks but made them."
Stewart finished with a Miami career-high 20 points with six rebounds.
While Coles was generally pleased with Miami's play, the inability to hold a big lead has emerged as a concern.
Miami (6-2, 2-0 in the MAC) ran off a 23-7 spurt early in the second half for a 52-41 lead, but couldn't hold it.
"Unfortunately, we don't play very well when we've got a lead," Coles said. "We get up 8-10 and always seem like we make mistakes."
Miami played without two of its guards - Rob Mestas and Jason Grunkemeyer.
Mestas returned from a knee injury to play 42 minutes against Marshall. He had swelling Thursday, and could have played, but was held out for precautionary reasons.
Grunkemeyer is recovering from a concussion suffered in the Xavier game.
Is that part of the RedHawks' problems?
"It always hurts," Coles said, "and I wouldn't say that after a loss. I'll say it after we won. Our practices aren't good (because) we have a lot of big guys and no guards."
"We've got a lot of work to do. We're no where near where we should be . . . we've got to get better."
Miami has that chance. With exams this week, the RedHawks are off until a game against San Diego in the Fresno State Classic Dec. 22. That should give them a chance to get everyone healthy, and prepare for what looks to be a challenging MAC schedule.
"I've been telling everybody for a whole year now the good news was that we had everybody back," Coles said, "but everybody (in the MAC) has got everybody back."
MIAMI (81)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Lethunya 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Szczerbiak 43 5-9 7-7 1-7 6 4 18
Estick 34 7-10 4-5 2-8 1 5 18
Taylor 45 5-14 0-0 1-4 6 4 12
Frierson 45 3-9 3-4 0-4 7 1 11
Stewart 38 6-15 3-4 1-6 0 3 20
Helmers 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Ensminger 11 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 2
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TOTALS 225 27-59 17-20 6-30 20 19 81
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Percentages: FG-.458, FT-.850. 3-Point Goals:
10-24, .417 (Szczerbiak 1-3, Taylor 2-6, Frierson
2-4, Stewart 5-11). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked
shots: 3 (Szczerbiak, Taylor, Frierson).
Turnovers: 12 (Szczerbiak 4, Stewart 3, Estick 2,
Frierson 2, Taylor). Steals: 6 (Estick 2, Taylor
2, Frierson, Szczerbiak).
CENTRAL MICH (69)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
J Webber 29 4-9 2-2 2-9 3 1 10
Manciel 39 8-8 2-4 2-3 1 4 19
Schell 39 4-13 4-6 1-11 0 2 14
D Webber 36 2-4 1-1 0-2 3 3 6
Kisner 41 4-13 6-6 0-3 3 2 17
Borovich 20 0-3 3-3 0-0 0 1 3
Zeigler 2 0-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
Larson 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Baggett 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Brown 5 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 0
Johnson 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Gaytan 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Simmons 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 225 22-53 18-22 6-32 11 18 69
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Percentages: FG-.415, FT-.818. 3-Point Goals:
7-19, .368 (J Webber 0-1, Manciel 1-1, Schell
2-5, D Webber 1-3, Kisner 3-8, Borovich 0-1).
Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 4 (Gaytan 2, J
Webber, Kisner). Turnovers: 16 (Manciel 5, J
Webber 4, Kisner 3, Brown 2, D Webber, Schell).
Steals: 4 (Manciel 2, Kisner, Schell).
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Miami 29 34 18 - 81
Central Mich 31 32 6 - 69
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Technical fouls: None. A: 4,461. Officials: Norm
Nelson, Jim Ferrari, Mike Mckee.
