OXFORD — A strong defensive effort propelled the Miami University men’s basketball team to a 66-58 victory over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Thursday. The RedHawks improve to 6-6 on the season, while the Golden Eagles fall to 4-11.
Michael Weathers led all scorers with 19 points, while Logan McLane and Jake Wright were Miami’s other two double digit scorers, tallying 12 and 11 points, respectively. Hakeem Rogers and Aleksa Jugovic paced the Golden Eagles with 14 points apiece.
The RedHawks hit their first four shots and began the game on a 10-2 run over the first two minutes of the half. The Golden Eagles responded with a 9-2 run that cut the RedHawk lead to one with 15:16 left in the first period.
Miami maintained its lead until a Stephaun Adams three gave Tennessee Tech its first lead of 32-31 with 4:15 left in the half. The RedHawks quickly tied the the game off of a Weathers free throw with 2:50 left. The teams would go back and forth the rest of the way, ending the half tied at 36. The first half was highlighted by poor ball security by both teams as the Golden Eagles committed 14 turnovers and the RedHawks had nine. Wright led all scorers with 11 points in the first half while Mason Ramsey paced the Golden Eagles with nine first half points. TTU dominated the glass in the first half, outrebounding Miami 19-9.
Both teams struggled offensively to start the second half, missing the first eight shots combined. The Golden Eagles would take a 41-36 lead at the 16:17 mark after Rogers broke the scoring drought with five-straight points. Abdoulaye Harouna finally got MU on the board in the half with a four-point play, draining a corner three while getting fouled and hitting the ensuing free throw to cut the gap to one.
The Golden Eagles built their lead to 51-47, but Miami quickly responded with a 9-0 run to retake the lead 56-51 with 5:54 left. After a trey from Jugovic cut the lead to two with 5:32 left, Tennessee Tech would go cold, going the rest of the game without a field goal. With the score tied 56 apiece, Weathers would score 10 straight points including going 6-for-6 from the line to close out the eight-point victory for the RedHawks.
Miami shot 43 percent from the field and 33 percent (8-for-24) from deep. Tennessee Tech shot 36 percent from the field and 36 percent (8-for-22) from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles outrebounded the RedHawks 40-33, while Miami took care of the ball better, committing 18 turnovers compared to Tennessee Tech’s 22.
