Sunday, January 16, 2000
Miami 55, Akron 48
RedHawks hold Zips scoreless in last five minutes
The Cincinnati Enquirer
AKRON, Ohio — The Miami RedHawks went three overtimes in their victory over Ball State last Wednesday. Saturday's victory at Akron was easier, but not by much.
The RedHawks traded leads with the Zips for some 35 minutes, then held Akron scoreless for the final five minutes in a 55-48 Mid-American Conference victory.
Miami made 14 of 15 free throws, including all seven in the final seven minutes. The RedHawks (7-6, 3-2 MAC), who lead the MAC in scoring defense, held Akron to 34 percent shooting (17-for-50).
The loss was the first in the MAC this season for the East Division-leading Zips (12-4, 6-1).
“It was by far our best game of the year all the way around,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said.
Coles thought the victory over Ball State helped Saturday.
“I think it proved to guys that they can come back because in that Ball State game, a lot of guys had big plays,” Coles said. “It builds a little bit of confidence.
“They had a little more bounce in their step (Saturday).”
Guard Rob Mestas, who made two key free throws with 28 seconds left, agreed.
“I think that game let us know we could play with anybody in the league,” Mestas said. “It gave us great confidence as a team, winning a game like that.”
Anthony Taylor scored 18 points and Jason Stewart came off the bench to score 11 points.
Ryan Andrick, the only Akron player in double figures, scored 14 points.
Mestas and Taylor helped hold Akron guards Jami Bosley and Jimmal Ball to a combined 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting.
“Anthony and I haven't really clicked together defensively until today,” Mestas said.
The Zips led 48-46 on Bosley's jumper with 5:05 remaining, but didn't score the rest of the game.
A Mestas three-point play with 4:53 left gave Miami the lead for good. Rich Allendorf hit a layup before Mestas made a pair of foul shots with 28 seconds left to push the lead to 53-48. Mike Ensminger made two free throws with 19 seconds left to clinch Miami's second straight victory.
“Finally, we've got a streak going,” said Mestas.
The RedHawks next face Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. Monday at Millett Hall.
MIAMI (55)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Grunkemeyer 20 4-5 0-0 0-2 0 2 9
Lethunya 21 1-4 0-0 2-6 0 4 2
Ensminger 34 2-4 2-2 0-6 0 2 6
Mestas 40 2-10 3-3 0-4 2 3 7
Taylor 39 4-12 9-9 0-1 5 1 18
Edwards 6 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 2 0
Allendorf 18 1-2 0-1 3-4 1 2 2
Stewart 22 4-7 0-0 0-3 1 2 11
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 18-45 14-15 5-28 9 18 55
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.400, FT-.933. 3-Point Goals:
5-15, .333 (Grunkemeyer 1-1, Mestas 0-7, Taylor
1-3, Stewart 3-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 2 (Allendorf 2). Turnovers: 8 (Grunkemeyer
2, Lethunya 2, Taylor 2, Edwards, Ensminger).
Steals: 3 (Allendorf 2, Taylor).
AKRON (48)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Phillips 32 1-5 0-0 4-8 0 3 2
Andrick 35 5-16 2-3 2-7 2 2 14
Weinkein 29 3-5 0-0 1-2 0 1 6
Ball 32 3-4 3-5 0-2 3 5 9
Bosley 30 3-11 1-1 0-2 3 2 8
Hipsher 19 2-5 2-2 2-5 2 0 7
Morgan 3 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
Schindewolf 16 0-1 2-2 0-3 2 2 2
Falknor 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 17-50 10-13 10-30 12 18 48
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.340, FT-.769. 3-Point Goals:
4-15, .267 (Andrick 2-3, Ball 0-1, Bosley 1-6,
Hipsher 1-3, Schindewolf 0-1, Falknor 0-1). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3 (Weinkein, Ball,
Hipsher). Turnovers: 11 (Bosley 3, Andrick 2,
Phillips 2, Schindewolf 2, Hipsher, Weinkein).
Steals: 1 (Bosley).
__________________________________
Miami 28 27 - 55
Akron 25 23 - 48
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 3,924. Officials:
Michael Ashurst, Mike Secrest, Jim Ferrari.
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