KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Winning its third-straight road game, the Miami University men’s basketball team clinched a spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland with three regular-season games remaining on its schedule.
A pair of 20-point scoring efforts by senior forward Dalonte Brown and junior guard Mekhi Lairy helped lift Miami to a 74-66 win at Western Michigan University on Thursday afternoon. Miami improves to 11-9 on the season and 8-7 in MAC play, while the Broncos drop to 4-14 overall and 3-10 in conference action.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Western Michigan pushed ahead early and led by 11 midway through the opening half, 22-11. The Broncos continued to hold an 11-point lead with 5:46 to go in the first half, 33-22.
- Miami staged a 15-0 run to capture a 37-33 advantage by the 1:40 mark. The run was fueled by triples from Brown, redshirt sophomore guard Myja White and redshirt junior guard Isaiah Coleman-Lands along with six points from junior forward Elijah McNamara.
- Brown sunk another triple with just over a minute to play to extend the RedHawk lead to five, 40-35. The Broncos finished the half scoring four unanswered to give Miami a 40-39 advantage going into the break.
- The teams went back and forth early, before Western Michigan took a 51-46 lead with 13:18 to go. Miami chiseled away at the Bronco lead and took a 56-54 lead off a Brown three-pointer with 7:23 remaining.
- Lairy put the RedHawks on top for good with a pair of free throws with 5:31 to play, and the RedHawks eventually built an 11-point advantage off another set of Lairy free throws with 20 seconds remaining, 74-63. WMU sunk the final basket with 12 seconds to go to make the RedHawks’ margin of victory eight.
NOTES:
- In addition to Brown and Lairy’s 20-point scoring efforts, McNamara was the other RedHawk to score in double figures with 10 points.
- Senior forward Precious Ayah hauled in a season-high 10 rebounds to lead the RedHawks on the glass. Brown and Lairy followed with nine and seven boards, respectively.
- It is the first time this season that Miami has had two players score 20 points in a game. It also marks the sixth-straight game that a Miami player has scored 20 or more points.
- Miami has won three-straight games, all on the road, after going 1-6 in its previous road contests.
COURTESY MIAMI ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
