Enquirer news services

Miami University earned its first Mid-American Conference victory of the season Wednesday night, riding a strong first half to a 72-62 win over host Buffalo.

The RedHawks (5-5, 1-1) shot 53.8 percent in the first half to take a 41-26 lead. They finished the game having made eight of 16 3-point attempts.

"We got the ball inside very well in the first half," MU coach Charlie Coles said. "If you do that, usually teams shoot well. I wanted to try to go inside early on. We hit some key 3s in the first half."

Juby Johnson scored 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting to lead Miami. Gene Seals added 17 points and nine rebounds, and Chet Mason contributed 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Johnson made three of four 3-pointers in the game, and the RedHawks sank seven in the first half.

"We jumped out a little bit early, and that was key," Coles said. "Buffalo has a very nice ballclub, and I don't know if we could have beaten them if we didn't jump out early on."

Center Yassin Idbihi led the Bulls (5-6, 1-2) with 16 points.

"Any time you get a win on the road, it's important," Coles said. "We started league play with two road games and probably five of the best teams in the league, so this was a big win for us. It's almost like winning two at home."

Miami	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Seals	30	5	8	6	9	9	2	4	3	17
Schenke	18	0	4	3	6	1	3	3	0	3
Hausfeld	29	3	4	0	0	1	1	1	2	7
Mason	37	5	15	1	3	12	6	3	1	11
Johnson	32	6	10	8	9	3	1	1	2	23
VanderSluis	10	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	0
Hatcher	15	2	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	6
St. Clair	13	0	2	0	0	1	2	2	0	0
Peavy	8	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	1	0
Horace	8	2	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	5
Van Buskirk	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	23	52	18	28	34	16	18	9	72

Team rebounds - 4.

Buffalo	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Gilbert	19	3	5	1	2	7	0	5	0	9
Jordan	20	2	8	3	4	4	0	3	1	7
Idbihi	31	6	9	4	6	8	1	3	2	16
Bird	25	2	5	0	2	1	1	2	1	5
Battle	28	2	7	3	3	2	6	4	2	7
Cage	22	1	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	3
Middleton	28	3	6	0	0	1	3	2	0	7
Bortz	27	3	5	2	3	6	1	2	4	8
Totals	200	22	48	13	20	31	13	22	11	62

Team rebounds - 2.

Miami	41	31	-72
Buffalo	26	36	-62

3-pointers - MU 8-16 (Seals 1-1, Schenke 0-1, Hausfeld 1-2, Mason 0-4, Johnson 3-4, Hatcher 2-2, St. Clair 0-1, Horace 1-1), B 5-15 (Gilbert 2-2, Jordan 0-2, Idbihi 0-1, Bird 1-2, Battle 0-4, Cage 1-2, Middleton 1-2). Technicals - None. Officials - Chamberlain, Forehand, Ferrari. Attendance - 1,658.