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Miami falls to Toledo

Josh North, For The Miami Student

 

The Miami University men's basketball team's comeback fell short Wednesday as they lost to the Toledo Rockets (10-10, 2-4 Mid-American Conference (MAC)) 63-61. The RedHawks (5-13, 1-5 MAC) have now lost three heartbreakers in a row early in the MAC season.

 

"They were relentless getting to the paint. You have to give credit to them," senior forward Julian Mavunga said.

Mavunga recorded his 10th double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Brian Sullivan added 13 points, draining four three pointers in the game for the RedHawks.

 

"As an outside shooter, you definitely feel that responsibility to knock down shots," Sullivan said, who leads the team shooting 46 percent from beyond the arc.

 

After allowing an 8-0 run to start the game, Miami started to fight back before allowing a 7-0 run later in the first half. Miami struggled offensively and defensively throughout stretches of the game, but fought back to keep the game close in the second half.

 

The Red and White tied the game several times in the second half and brought the game to within two after a three-pointer by sophomore forward Jon Harris with 40 seconds left. After forcing a Toledo turnover at the other end with 10 seconds left, Miami was unable to get a shot off after Mavunga threw the ball away.

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"We have to make teams that double team like they did pay more often. I think at one point there were four guys on me," Mavunga said.

 

Mavunga believes the team was unable to come up with the victory due to the fact that they had a lot of mental lapses during the game. He thinks a series of little plays resulted in Toledo coming out with the victory rather than Miami's failure to come up big near the end of the game.

 

Miami has lost a series of close games this season where the team's average plus-minus in MAC conference games is -3.7.

 

"It's the little things that count when it comes down to it," Mavunga said. "It's not about what happened at the end. It's about not rebounding, not boxing out, and not playing good help defense."

 

Head Coach Charlie Coles was happy with the way his team fought back after a rough start but thinks his team needs to figure out a way to rise above difficult situations and come through at the end of games.

 

"These are the kind of games we have to win, but I don't think they are strong enough mentally," Coles said. "They seem to get tight when [late game] situations come around. Julian has to do a better job adjusting to the double team and we need to do a better job making open shots."

 

The RedHawks will travel to Western Michigan University to take on the 9-10 Broncos at 4 p.m Saturday.