By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

Charlie Coles has guided one Miami basketball team to a Mid-American Conference regular-season co-championship and the tournament title, and another to the East Division and overall regular-season titles.

But one puzzle the eighth-year RedHawks coach hasn't been able to solve is how to win consistently on the road in the MAC.

He'll start taking another crack at it today when Miami opens conference play at Western Michigan. Tipoff is 2 p.m.

The RedHawks (2-1) got off to a promising start on the road when they opened with a 71-55 win at Liberty, but reverted to their past struggles by getting into a 17-point hole that proved too deep in a 67-61 loss at Dayton Wednesday.

"We gotta win some of these games," Coles said. "We can't get beat like this on the road. We've gotta win 'em."

In Coles' previous seven seasons, Miami finished over .500 in MAC road games just once. That was in the 1998-99 NCAA Sweet 16 season, when the RedHawks won their only East Division title.

Overall, Miami is 26-37 (.413) in MAC road games under Coles. His predecessor, Herb Sendek, produced a 17-10 (.630) record in three seasons at Miami.

Miami's primary problem is inconsistency on offense. The RedHawks shot a miserable 23.3 percent from the field in the first half against the Flyers. They rebounded in the second half to shoot 52 percent (13-for-25), including 54.5 percent (6-for-11) on 3-pointers, while cutting the deficit to three points twice in the last 3:09.

Sophomore guard Josh Hausfeld sparked the comeback by scoring all 14 of his points in the second half, including four 3-pointers in seven tries.

"I wish he would have hit three or four more," Coles said. "I give our boys credit. It's hard to praise, this early in the season, a comeback like this. I thought it was a helluva ballgame, but as a coach, you look at these as the ones that are winnable. The game became very, very winnable, and I was hoping we'd get that kind (of shooting)."

He's hoping to get that kind of shooting in both halves today against the Broncos (1-1), who lost 44-39 at Miami last Dec. 7. Senior Anthony Kann, a 6-foot-7 center, was named to the MAC West Division preseason all-league team, but 6-8 senior forward Mike Williams leads WMU in scoring with a 21.5 average, which includes the career-high 31 he scored in the Broncos' season-opening 83-65 win over Southern California. Junior guard Ben Reed (11.0) is the team's only other double-figure scorer.

"Western Michigan is a very good defensive ballclub, and I think our ballclubs kind of mirror each other," Coles said. "We are about the same size, overall. They may have some height advantages in some areas, but we have them in other areas, so it balances out. When we played last year, it was like a heavyweight battle at our place with two defensively minded teams going at it. ... We need to keep it close and make sure we don't get down early and have to try to fight our way back like we did against Dayton."

Miami at Western Michigan

Tipoff: 2 p.m. today, University Arena (5,649), Kalamazoo, Mich.

Records: Miami 2-1, Western Michigan 1-1.

TV: None.

Radio: WCKY-AM (1360), WMOH-AM (1450).

MIAMI

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Chet Mason	Jr.	6-4	11.0
Josh Hausfeld	So.	6-3	9.0
Juby Johnson	Sr.	6-5	23.0
Danny Horace	Jr.	6-6	10.7
Eric Van Buskirk	Fr.	6-8	2.0

Coach: Charlie Coles (122-94, eighth season; 214-178 overall).

WESTERN MICHIGAN

Player	Yr.	Ht.	PPG
Rickey Willis	Jr.	6-0	1.0
Ben Reed	Jr.	6-3	11.0
Brian Snider	So.	6-6	4.5
Mike Williams	Sr.	6-8	21.5
Anthony Kann	Sr.	6-7	8.0

Coach: Steve Hawkins (1-1, first season; 138-112 overall).