Sunday, January 17, 1999

MIAMI 80, AKRON 62

---

Stewart, Mestas step up

BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Miami's Refiloe Lethunya runs down a loose ball. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        OXFORD — Akron coach Dan Hipsher figured that whoever guarded Wally Szczerbiak for his Zips Saturday needed help. So when Szczerbiak caught the ball, Jami Bosley or Jimmal Ball would jump down and double team him.

        It would have been a good plan if Jason Stewart and Rob Mestas, the guys Akron left open, clanked their shots.

        Unfortunately for Akron, Mestas and Stewart combined to hit 8-of-16 from three-point range. They got Miami rolling the first half, and the RedHawks rolled right to an 80-62 blowout of Akron.

        The victory was Miami's fifth straight and improved the RedHawks to 12-3 overall and 7-0 in the Mid-American Conference. Arkon, which is playing without two injured starters, fell to 9-6 and 3-4 in the MAC.

        Szczerbiak ended up with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists. Stewart added 18 points, Damon Frierson had 14, and Mestas had 12.

Jason Stewart runs the break. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        “A lot of pressure and focus is put on Wally and Damon,” Stewart said. “They have to give up something to do that. They can't pay much attention to me.”

        Akron hung with Miami early. It was 15-13 halfway through the first half. Then Stewart hit back-to-back threes — Szczerbiak got assists on both — to start a 10-1 run to go up 25-14.

        By this time, Akron was playing even up on Szczerbiak. That didn't work either: He made the last two baskets of the run. After missing his first two shots, he hit eight in a row.

        His biggest shot came after Refiloe Lethunya grabbed a rebound, got the outlet pass to Frierson. Frierson found Szczerbiak along the baseline. Szczerbiak took two steps and then soared for a thunderous one-handed dunk.

        He was fouled and made the free throw to give Miami a 43-23 lead with 1:43 left in the half.

        The crowd of 5,693 was still buzzing at halftime.

        “That was a pretty exciting play,” Szczerbiak said. “That's what the fans come to see. It's only two points but it's big for momentum.”

Damon Frierson is fouled from behind by Bruce Weinkein. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        The momentum was all Miami's and the second half was academic. Akron got within 11 once, but Jason Grunkemeyer hit a three and Miami was rolling again. “We knew with the current state of our team,” Hipsher said, “we had to play pretty well and they had to play not so well. But they played very well.”

        Miami hit 54.2 percent from three-point range, with five different players hitting at least one. Szczerbiak, who came in hitting only 30.1 percent on threes, was 3-for-4.

        “He's getting better looks,” Coles said. “He's moving better without the ball. If he takes good shots, he's going to make them.”

        Coles was most pleased by the defense Miami played on Bosley and Ball. Bosley had 13 points, seven below his average, on 3-for-10 shooting. Ball had nine points, four below his average, on 4-for-11 shooting. He also had four turnovers.

        Miami has won five straight, all by blowout.

MIAMI NOTEBOOK

 
AKRON (62)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
N Schindewolf   27   2-9   2-2   2-4  2  2    7
Moore           28   3-3   0-1   0-0  0  3    6
Weinkein        33   6-8   2-2   2-6  0  3   14
Ball            35  4-11   1-2   1-3  2  0    9
Bosley          36  3-10   6-6   0-6  2  4   13
Johnson          8   0-1   1-2   0-1  0  3    1
Kart             1   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Felton           8   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Zollner          9   0-0   3-4   1-1  0  1    3
Norman           2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Falknor         13   3-5   0-0   0-1  1  0    9
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-48 15-19  6-22  7 16   62
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.438, FT-.789. 3-Point Goals:
5-12, .417 (N Schindewolf 1-3, Ball 0-1, Bosley
1-3, Falknor 3-5). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked
shots: 3 (Weinkein 2, Zollner). Turnovers: 13
(Ball 4, Bosley 2, Johnson 2, N Schindewolf 2,
Falknor, Norman, Weinkein). Steals: 7 (Bosley 3,
Falknor 2, N Schindewolf 2).


MIAMI  (80)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Stewart         35  6-12   2-2   1-4  0  3   18
Szczerbiak      38 10-15   2-3   2-5  4  0   25
Estick          17   1-4   2-2   1-3  0  2    4
Mestas          29   4-8   0-0   1-2  4  2   12
Frierson        39  6-13   1-2   1-3  3  2   14
Grunkemeyer     15   1-2   0-0   1-4  3  4    3
Shine            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Helmers          2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Lethunya        14   0-1   2-2   2-7  1  1    2
Locklier         1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Allendorf        2   1-1   0-0   1-1  0  0    2
Ensminger        7   0-0   0-0   1-2  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 29-57  9-11 11-31 15 15   80
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.509, FT-.818. 3-Point Goals:
13-24, .542 (Stewart 4-9, Szczerbiak 3-4, Mestas
4-7, Frierson 1-2, Grunkemeyer 1-1, Helmers 0-1).
Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 2 (Szczerbiak,
Frierson). Turnovers: 12 (Mestas 4, Stewart 3,
Estick 2, Frierson 2, Szczerbiak). Steals: 8
(Stewart 4, Allendorf, Estick, Lethunya, Mestas).
__________________________________
Akron              26   36  -   62
Miami              43   37  -   80
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 5,693. Officials: Sam
Lickliter, Lamar Simpson, Mike Alvaro.

---

Sports Stories

Huggins has team where he likes it Olympic chief follows path of our president Parcells' program perfect for Jets Belichick defense key for Jets Tyson stops trash talk in 5th round Crown only place to see IHL all-stars Dionne hangs tough, with no regrets MIAMI 80, AKRON 62 KENTUCKY 63, MISSISSIPPI 57 NKU 95, WIS.-PARKSIDE 53 MICHIGAN 5, CYCLONES 1 NEW HAVEN 4, MIGHTY DUCKS 3 No. 2 Michigan State crowns Miami

UC 72, OKLAHOMA 59
UC NOTEBOOK
XU vs. GW a hot rivalry