By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

OXFORD - Charlie Coles has a little bit more for which to give thanks today.

Coles, who had to wait three games and almost nine months between career win No. 199 and his milestone 200th victory, finally pinned it down Wednesday night with the RedHawks' 65-39 win over Ohio Dominican College in Miami's home opener before 2,068 fans at Millett Hall.

Junior guard Juby Johnson, who scored just four points against Maryland Sunday, rebounded with a game-high 18 points for the RedHawks, who posted their first win of the season after losing at Purdue and at Maryland. Sophomore forward Danny Horace added 12, his second consecutive game in double figures. Nine Miami players reached the scoring column.

Sophomore guard Mike Lee, an Oak Hills product, scored 13 points to lead the Panthers, who lost their second game in two nights after putting together a four-game winning streak. Former Miami graduate assistant Dan Priest coaches ODC.

Coles, in his 13th season as a college head coach and seventh with Miami, picked up career win No. 199 on March 4 in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The RedHawks lost their next game, and after Miami's first two games of this season, Coles was 199-164 overall and 107-80 at Miami.

The RedHawks missed their first three shots, the first two of which were 3-point attempts from the top of the key by 6-6 senior forward Bryan Reed, who had tried 22 in his career going into the game. Chet Mason snapped the slump by driving through traffic in the lane for a layup.

That was the first of seven consecutive shots Miami would make, including three in a row from Johnson that left the RedHawks leading 19-12 with 11:52 left in the first half.

Miami would expand that lead to as many as 15 points, 31-16, with 2:29 left in the half. Every RedHawk who was available except for freshman forward-center John Morningstar saw action by halftime, and freshman guard William Hatcher recorded the first points of his career on a jumper from the free throw line with 4:21 left in the half.

Morningstar got in with 5:24 left in the game.

The RedHawks, who shot a combined 31.4 percent from the field while losing their first two games of the season, went 12-for-23 (52.2 percent) from the field to open a 34-20 halftime lead. They got help from the Panthers, who committed 11 turnovers to Miami's four.

Miami's shooting cooled off in the second half. The RedHawks finished with a 44.9 percentage on 22-of-49 shooting. They were 4-of-16 (25 percent) on 3-pointers.

Miami took control with an 11-2 run during which ODC went almost 7 1/2 minutes without a field goal.

The win was Miami's 12th in a row in home openers, which sets a record for the program.

Miami won 11 home openers from the 1934-1935 season through the 1944-1945 season.

The win also allowed the RedHawks to avoid losing their first three games of the season for the first time since the 1988-1989 season. That team finished 5-23 under coach Jerry Peirson.

NOTES: Miami's strength of schedule was ranked No. 6 among Division I teams in the latest Sagarin Ratings. Bowling Green was the next-highest MAC school at No. 36. The RedHawks were ranked 98th overall.

The RedHawks will face another product of the Cradle of Coaches Saturday when they travel to Fairborn to face Wright State University. The Raiders are coached by former Miami guard Ed Schilling.

Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Ohio Dominican	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Stith	28	2	8	0	0	11	1	3	2	4
Fiebig	34	1	5	2	2	0	0	2	3	5
Renner	32	2	9	2	2	4	0	4	3	6
Lee	27	5	10	2	2	1	2	4	8	13
Jenkins	29	1	4	0	0	4	0	2	1	2
Krueger	17	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	0
Swartz	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Massey	10	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	3	3
Nye	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Smith	19	2	3	2	4	7	0	1	2	6
Totals	200	14	44	8	10	29	3	18	23	39

Team rebounds: 1

Miami	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Reed	23	0	5	4	4	5	2	1	0	4
Horace	20	5	12	1	2	3	0	1	1	12
Jameson	17	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	2
Mason	20	2	3	4	6	7	3	4	5	8
Johnson	28	6	9	5	9	2	0	1	3	18
Drake	15	1	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	2
Hausfeld	10	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
Williams	12	3	4	1	1	3	1	1	0	8
Baumgartner	16	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	1	0
Morningstar	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0
Seals	15	2	6	2	2	2	1	0	1	6
Schenke	11	0	2	0	0	1	1	2	0	0
Hatcher	11	0	2	0	0	1	1	2	0	0
Totals	200	22	49	17	24	33	14	12	14	65

Team rebounds: 2.

Ohio Dominican	20	19	-39
Miami	34	31	-65

Attendance-2,068. 3-point goals-OD 3-13 (Stith 0-2, Fiebig 1-5, Lee 1-3, Krueger 0-1, Massey 1-2); MU 4-16 (Reed 0-3, Horace 1-3, Johnson 1-3, Drake 0-1, Williams 1-2, Seals 0-1, Schenke 0-1, Hatcher 1-2). Technical fouls-None. Officials-Kruger, Simpson, Sauder.

Up next

Miami at Wright State, 1 p.m. Saturday.