Sunday, January 03, 1999
MIAMI 80, WESTERN MICHIGAN 62
Wally goes from decoy to scorer
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — Wally Szczerbiak may be the best shooter in America. But he is also a guy who can live without getting his shots. In the first half, Saturday against Western Michigan Szczerbiak had three shots and two points.
“When he came into the locker room, I didn't know he had two points,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said, “and I don't think he knew it. ... He plays for the team.”
Sometimes that means scoring; sometimes that means giving yourself up so that others may score. Saturday, Szczerbiak scored in the second half and was the set-up man in the first. It all worked out for an 80-62 win over Western in a Mid-American Conference game at Millett Hall.
Miami goes to 9-3 overall and 4-0 in the MAC. Western is 7-6 and 2-3.
Szczerbiak finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Damon Frierson added 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Jason Stewart added 11 points. And Rob Mestas had 10 points and five assists.
Miami's Anthony Taylor missed his second straight game with arch problems in both his feet.
Mestas and Stewart (eight points each) carried the offense in the first half, while Western kept Szczerbiak in check.
“We have to live with the fact that Wally is never going to get another open three-point shot in his life,” Coles. “Nobody's going to let him shoot it.”
“They were bodying up on me,” Szczerbiak said, “and not letting me use screens like I like. Whenever I put the ball on the floor, they'd bring help over.
“I was finding guys open.”
Western hung in the second half. The Broncos led 50-48 with 10:19 to play. Then, almost simultaneously, Miami picked up defensively, and Szczerbiak showed he can score without firing away from outside.
“We made some key stops,” Coles said. “With those stops, our offense picked up. That's the way it is in basketball today. I don't think you can play poor defense and good offense.”
Szczerbiak scored seven straight points to get Miami going.
The RedHawks held Western without a field goal for 51/2 minutes. That allowed them to take a 62-52 lead.
“They took over pretty quickly,” Western coach Bob Donewald said. “Then it wasn't a matter of who was going to win; it was matter of by how much.”
Miami pushed the lead to 21 at 78-57. The last two points came on a fast break, where Frierson took a rebound, hit Mestas with a cross-court pass. Mestas took a dribble and threw a no-look pass to Szczerbiak for a reverse dunk.
“You just hope he doesn't have the great game he's capable of having,” Donewald said. “But you aren't going to shut him down the whole game.”
Miami shot 57.1 percent in the second half and held Western to 26.9. MU committed only three second-half turnovers.
The victory allows Miami to keep pace with Ohio University in the MAC race. Both are 4-0, a half-game ahead of 3-0 Akron in the East Division and overall.
“That's important,” Szczerbiak said. “Last year, we started bad in the MAC and played catch-up all year. We want to be front-runners this year.”
MIAMI 80, WESTERN MICHIGAN 62
MIAMI NOTEBOOK
WESTERN MICH (62)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Jackson 36 2-5 2-3 3-14 3 2 6
Jones 33 5-9 5-5 0-2 1 2 18
Van Timmeren 18 1-4 0-0 1-2 0 4 2
Williams 31 2-9 2-2 1-5 1 4 6
Barksdale 37 5-15 3-4 1-2 4 4 15
Kahl 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Evans 12 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 1 3
Nichols 2 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
Bullock 15 1-4 0-0 0-1 1 3 2
Mulic 13 3-4 2-3 1-2 0 2 8
Collins 1 0-0 2-2 1-1 0 0 2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 20-56 16-19 9-31 10 22 62
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.357, FT-.842. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Jones 3-6, Williams 0-2, Barksdale
2-4, Kahl 0-1, Evans 1-2, Nichols 0-1, Bullock
0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: None.
Turnovers: 16 (Jones 5, Barksdale 4, Jackson 3,
Williams 2, Bullock, Evans). Steals: 5 (Jones 2,
Williams 2, Barksdale).
MIAMI OHIO (80)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Stewart 20 3-9 3-4 1-4 2 1 11
Szczerbiak 36 7-12 7-7 1-11 6 3 21
Ensminger 12 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 2 2
Mestas 29 3-10 2-2 0-0 5 4 10
Frierson 40 5-10 3-3 1-5 5 2 13
Grunkemeyer 22 2-5 0-0 1-4 0 0 6
Shine 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Helmers 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Lethunya 17 4-7 1-2 1-4 0 4 9
Estick 20 2-2 2-2 0-1 0 3 6
Locklier 1 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Allendorf 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 28-57 18-20 6-31 18 20 80
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.491, FT-.900. 3-Point Goals:
6-21, .286 (Stewart 2-7, Szczerbiak 0-2, Mestas
2-6, Frierson 0-2, Grunkemeyer 2-3, Lethunya
0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 4
(Szczerbiak 2, Lethunya 2). Turnovers: 12
(Szczerbiak 4, Frierson 2, Mestas 2, Stewart 2,
Estick, Lethunya). Steals: 8 (Frierson 2,
Szczerbiak 2, Estick, Grunkemeyer, Lethunya,
Mestas).
__________________________________
Western Mich 32 30 - 62
Miami 34 46 - 80
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 1,417. Officials: Mike
Roberts, Mike Sanzere, Tom Clark.
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