Thursday, January 25, 2001
Akron 56, Miami 46
RedHawks shoot season-low 31.4 percent
By Carey Hoffman
Enquirer contributor
OXFORD — A month ago, he would have denied it, but no more — Miami coach Charlie Coles admits his team is inconsistent.
For proof, look no further than the RedHawks' 56-46 loss to Akron on Wednesday night.
After its best back-to-back offensive showings of the season, against Buffalo and Western Michigan in the previous four days at home, Miami reverted to its worst form of the season against Akron.
The RedHawks (8-11, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) shot a sea son-low 31.4 percent, and leading scorers Alex Shorts and Jason Grunkemeyer were a combined 3-of-21. Miami was credited with only three assists in the game.
“I feel bad, because I don't think I had any answers at all — at all,” Coles said.
Akron matched Miami's defensive intensity, then left the RedHawks to struggle on offense in front of 2,833 at Millett Hall.
Miami went a stretch of 7:42 without a field goal late in the game after Akron (7-9, 4-3) came back from a 23-16 halftime deficit to lead 47-37 with two minutes to play.
Coles called three timeouts during the stretch but couldn't find any offensive breakthroughs. “He was trying anything that might work,” Grunkemeyer said. “Be cause we couldn't throw a pea into the ocean.”
“You know its bad when the fans are suggesting playing different players,” Coles said.
Miami's only points during the span came on a pair of free throws from Shorts. Meanwhile, Akron was riding a hot second half from Miami transfer Nate Schindewolf, who scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime, including three 3-pointers that got the Zips back into the game. Akron was 5-of-8 from 3-point range in the second half.
“We tried to start all over in the second half, get us on a roll and see what we could do, make a run at them early and then go from there,” Schindewolf said.
“You felt like if you came in and had a chance to win, the game was going to be ugly. The game was going to be in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and you had to grind through possessions defensively and offensively,” Akron coach Dan Hipsher said.
Grunkemeyer finally broke Miami's field-goal drought when he made his first basket of the game, with 1:53 left. The RedHawks had some hope when Mike Ensminger scored five straight points to cut the lead to 49-44 with 1:08 to play.
But Akron held on from the foul line. The Zips were 9-of-10 on free throws in the final 1:30.
Ensminger led Miami with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Shorts added 10 points.
The game had a strange beginning and a strange end. Shorts was called for a technical in the pregame for dunking during warmups, and Schindewolf opened play by making a foul shot before the opening tipoff. At the end, Coles went over to shake hands with Hipsher even though seven seconds remained on the game clock.
Miami led 23-16 at halftime after scoring 11 of the first half's last 13 points. But then came the second-half struggle.
The loss was Miami's first at home this season in MAC play. The RedHawks fell to fifth place in the MAC East, a half-game behind Akron.
“We've got a big one Saturday (against Ball State), and what choice do we have? It's either suck it up and come back ready to play or lay down and die and get our butt kicked all over the league,” Grunkemeyer said.
AKRON (56)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Thompson 17 0-2 0-2 3-5 1 0 0
Schindewolf 27 5-10 1-1 0-3 3 2 15
Weinkein 14 2-4 0-3 1-2 1 3 4
Brown 36 1-8 12-12 1-4 5 1 14
Smith 21 0-4 3-4 1-2 0 1 3
Sims 18 0-2 0-0 0-2 0 4 0
Penn 19 4-6 0-0 1-2 0 1 9
Falknor 24 2-6 0-0 0-3 2 0 5
Zollner 22 1-2 4-4 3-6 0 3 6
Seibert 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 15-45 20-26 10-29 12 15 56
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.333, FT-.769. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Schindewolf 4-5, Brown 0-4, Smith
0-1, Sims 0-2, Penn 1-1, Falknor 1-4). Team
rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 4 (Zollner 2, Penn,
Smith). Turnovers: 9 (Falknor 3, Schindewolf 3,
Sims 2, Smith). Steals: 8 (Brown 4, Penn 2,
Smith, Thompson).
MIAMI OHIO (46)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Johnson 28 2-5 2-2 1-2 0 2 7
Shorts 22 2-10 6-8 0-2 0 5 10
Ensminger 22 5-6 1-1 4-7 0 4 11
Jameson 33 0-3 0-0 0-2 2 3 0
Grunkemeyer 33 1-11 2-2 0-3 0 0 4
Drake 20 1-9 0-0 1-1 1 1 3
Seals 6 1-3 0-0 2-4 0 0 2
Reed 18 2-2 0-0 2-7 0 2 5
Allendorf 18 2-2 0-1 4-7 0 0 4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 16-51 11-14 14-35 3 17 46
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.314, FT-.786. 3-Point Goals:
3-15, .200 (Johnson 1-4, Jameson 0-1, Grunkemeyer
0-4, Drake 1-5, Reed 1-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 1 (Allendorf). Turnovers: 12
(Johnson 4, Shorts 4, Grunkemeyer 3, Ensminger).
Steals: 5 (Reed 2, Allendorf, Grunkemeyer,
Johnson).
__________________________________
Akron 16 40 - 56
Miami Ohio 23 23 - 46
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 2,833. Officials: Dan
Fouser, Terry Davis, Terry Wymer.
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