By Rodney McKissic
Special to the Enquirer

AMHERST, N.Y. - At perhaps the most critical juncture of the season and with the league tournament's No. 1 seed in sight, the Miami RedHawks must survive the next two games without forward Danny Horace.

Horace, Miami's best frontcourt player, was ejected for fighting during the RedHawks' 63-35 win over Buffalo on Saturday at Alumni Arena and will serve a mandatory two-game suspension under Mid-American Conference rules.

Horace will sit out against MAC West Division foes Northern Illinois and Bowling Green. Miami coach Charlie Coles said he might consider an appeal because he wasn't clear if Horace indeed was fighting.

"I'm anxious to see how this one goes down," Coles said.

Horace's suspension comes at a pivotal time for the RedHawks, who are still in position to gain a No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament. Miami (12-11, 10-4) is in second place in the East Division behind Kent State (18-6, 11-5), which lost a non-league game against Hawaii on Saturday. Horace, the RedHawks' second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg.) and rebounder (5.9 rpg.), had a game-high 10 points when he was ejected for fighting with Buffalo's B.J. Walker, a former Mount Healthy High forward, with just more than two minutes remaining in the first half.

"If we lose this kid, it's big," Coles said. "He's our guy. He's a kid who jumps through the whole crowd and gets a rebound. He was beginning to have a good game (Saturday), but we'll look at it and see and go from there."

The outcomes of the RedHawks' next two games have to be more intriguing than Saturday's game against sleepwalking Buffalo (4-19, 1-13), playing its third consecutive game without leading scorer Turner Battle, who is out for the season with a fractured finger.

The game didn't get interesting until Horace's ejection after throwing a punch toward Walker that didn't land. Double technical fouls were assessed to Horace and Walker, and when it was announced Horace was ejected, Coles stomped and yelled in the face of referee Kenneth Turner before being restrained by his assistants.

"Our guys kept their composure for the whole game, but I wish I could say the same for myself," Coles said. "But I coach Miami and I coach Danny Horace and I know what Danny gives to us on and off the court, so I'm in his corner. If there's corners, then I'll go in his corner."

The fact is, Miami, winner of eight of its last 10 games, didn't need Horace to beat Buffalo.

Miami	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Reed	25	0	2	2	2	3	4	0	0	2
Horace	17	4	5	2	2	2	1	1	0	10
Hausfeld	26	4	6	0	0	3	0	0	2	11
Mason	36	5	12	1	3	1	3	1	1	11
Johnson	36	4	12	1	2	6	5	1	0	12
Jameson	3	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	1	1
Drake	8	0	2	0	1	4	1	0	0	0
Williams	7	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Morningstar	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Seals	12	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	4
Vandersluis	4	2	2	0	0	3	0	1	0	4
Schenke	21	3	3	0	0	4	1	1	0	7
Hatcher	3	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
Totals	200	24	48	7	12	32	16	11	6	63

Team rebounds: 4.

Buffalo	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Bortz	29	1	5	2	2	9	2	3	3	4
Walker	32	2	7	3	4	6	0	1	1	7
Bird	32	3	14	4	6	1	2	1	1	11
Lawrence	23	0	4	0	0	6	1	0	1	0
Gilbert	28	1	6	0	0	11	1	4	2	3
Cage	15	1	6	0	0	2	0	1	2	3
Middleton	15	2	6	0	0	1	1	1	2	5
Walcott	6	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0
Jordan	6	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	1	0
Veal	12	0	1	2	4	0	0	1	1	2
Johnson	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	10	50	11	16	38	7	16	14	35

Team rebounds: 0.

Miami	28	35	-63
Buffalo	15	20	-35

Attendance-3,073. 3-point goals-Miami 8-23 (Reed 0-2, Horace 0-1, Hausfeld 3-5, Mason 0-2, Johnson 3-8, Drake 0-2, Williams 0-1, Schenke 1-1, Hatcher 1-1); Buffalo 4-24 (Bortz 0-1, Bird 1-8, Lawrence 0-4, Gilbert 1-4, Cage 1-5, Middleton 1-2). Technical fouls-Horace (M), Walker (B). Officials-Fouser, Costain, Turner.

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

	Conf.		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Kent St.	11	5	18	6
Miami	10	4	12	11
Marshall	7	7	11	12
Ohio	6	8	9	13
Akron	5	8	10	12
Buffalo	1	13	4	19

West

	Conf.		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Cent.Mich	11	3	18	5
N.Illinois	10	4	14	10
W.Michigan	7	7	15	8
Ball St	7	7	12	13
E. Mich	6	8	12	11
Bowling Green	6	8	10	13
Toledo	4	10	10	14

Saturday's Games

Miami 63, Buffalo 35

Ohio 79, W. Michigan 72, 2OT

Illinois St. 57, Marshall 53

Cent. Michigan 87, N. Illinois 75

W. Kentucky 84, Ball St. 79

E. Michigan 76, Toledo 73

Ill.-Chicago 83, Bowling Green 72

Hawaii 79, Kent St. 78

Today's Game

Ohio at Akron, 7 p.m.