Sunday, January 09, 2000
Ohio 57, Miami 54
RedHawks fall apart at finish
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — When Miami University's Anthony Taylor stepped to the line to shoot a pair of free throws with 8:42 left against Ohio University, RedHawks fans had already counted the two points.
The senior guard is money at the line. He was six-for-six for the game and is shooting 88 percent for the year.
But Taylor missed the first one. He hit the second, but it was clearly not going to be his day at the line. Taylor went on to miss five of six attempts the rest of way.
His struggles at the line led directly to Miami's 57-54 loss to Mid-American Conference rival Ohio Saturday before 3,517 spectators at Millett Hall.
But the RedHawks had other problems. They shot 25 percent from 3-point range. They broke down defensively in critical stretches. And they blew a 13-point first-half lead.
But nothing was as unexplainable as Taylor's sudden inablity to hit free throws. Taylor didn't have explanation.
“I don't know what to tell you,” Taylor said. “They felt good. I felt relaxed. I didn't feel pressure. I just missed. I don't how technical you want me to get. I just missed.”
Taylor led Miami with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Grunkemeyer added 12 points.
Steve Esterkamp, a freshman from LaSalle, led OU with 14 points. Another Cincinnati freshman, Brandon Hunter from Withrow, added 10 points and six rebounds.
The Bobcats' senior stars, Sanjay Adell and Shaun Stonerook, had 12 points each. Stonerook added 14 rebounds.
The loss — Miami's second straight to a MAC team at Millett — drops the RedHawks to 5-6 overall and 1-2 in the conference. The RedHawks had a chance to beat Ohio and Kent, two of the better teams in the MAC, at home but came up just short both times.
“Everyone talks about Wally Szczerbiak scoring,” MU coach Charlie Coles said. “But he was tough. With him, we won these kind of games. We've got to be stronger at the end.”
OU, which lost at Kent in overtime on Wednesday, improves to 9-6 and 2-2.
“They're one of teams that has a chance to win the league and go to tournament and win a game or two,” Coles said of the Bobcats. “They're top of the line. We're not.”
Miami's first collapse came at the end of the first half. The RedHawks led 21-8 with 8:25 left, but they did not score another field goal the rest of the half, allowing OU to close it to 23-18.
“We're up 21-8 and our guys thought it was going to be easy,” Coles said. “This is the Bobcats ... You've got to keep playing.”
Miami rebuilt the lead to nine at 38-27 seven minutes into the second half. Their lead was still six at 40-34 with 10 minutes left.
But Esterkamp led a rally that put OU in control.
He made a 3-pointer and was fouled with 9:50 to go. He missed the free throw, then sped and grabbed the rebound.
“I knew I was going to miss and miss to the right,” he said. “I just ran down there and got the ball.”
He was fouled and hit both free throws, cutting the lead to 40-39. Miami scored to make it 43-39, but the Bobcats went on 10-1 run to take a 49-44 lead with 6:14 to go.
Taylor cut OU's the lead to one with 3-pointer at 4:41. And Miami still trailed by one after Grunkemeyer hit two free throws with 3:24 left.
But Miami did not score again until Refiloe Lethunya hit a jumper with 15 seconds to go.
That cut Ohio's lead to 56-54. Stonerook hit one of two free throws to put the Bobcats up 57-54 with 14 seconds left.
Taylor took an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer, which Corey Reed blocked.
“I hesitated,” Taylor said. “I thought (Reed) was going to jump. So I leaned in.”
OU's Esterkamp has career game
OHIO (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Adell 31 3-8 4-5 0-3 1 1 12
Stonerook 40 4-10 4-6 2-14 4 2 12
Hunter 29 3-5 4-5 3-6 1 3 10
Ford 30 1-6 2-4 0-3 1 5 5
Esterkamp 19 5-9 2-4 1-3 0 4 14
Howell 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Reed 26 1-1 0-0 0-3 2 3 2
Crawford 9 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 2
Flomo 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Mcvicker 6 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 18-44 16-25 6-33 10 18 57
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.409, FT-.640. 3-Point Goals:
5-20, .250 (Adell 2-5, Stonerook 0-4, Ford 1-5,
Esterkamp 2-3, Howell 0-1, Crawford 0-2). Team
rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 4 (Hunter, Esterkamp,
Reed, Flomo). Turnovers: 16 (Adell 6, Hunter 3,
Stonerook 3, Reed 2, Esterkamp, Howell). Steals:
2 (Esterkamp, Reed).
MIAMI (54)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Stewart 19 2-10 0-0 0-3 0 4 6
Lethunya 27 4-6 0-0 1-3 1 4 8
Ensminger 30 2-4 0-0 1-3 2 4 4
Mestas 40 0-5 0-0 0-3 5 3 0
Taylor 37 5-15 8-14 4-10 1 2 20
Grunkemeyer 26 4-9 2-2 0-3 1 2 12
Edwards 5 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Allendorf 16 2-3 0-0 1-3 0 2 4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 19-53 10-16 7-29 10 22 54
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.358, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals:
6-24, .250 (Stewart 2-8, Lethunya 0-1, Mestas
0-2, Taylor 2-8, Grunkemeyer 2-5). Team rebounds:
3. Blocked shots: None. Turnovers: 9 (Mestas 4,
Lethunya 3, Allendorf, Taylor). Steals: 5
(Ensminger, Grunkemeyer, Lethunya, Stewart,
Taylor).
__________________________________
Ohio 18 39 - 57
Miami 23 31 - 54
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Miami Ohio 1 (Lethunya). A:
3,517. Officials: Mark Masariu, Steve Roberson,
Keith Herring.
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