Recap: Miami basketball teams go 2-0 against Bobcats on One Miami Day

One week after spring classes began at Miami University, both basketball teams put on a show for the RedHawk faithful at Millett Hall on Feb. 1. The women’s and men’s basketball teams won their respective Battles of the Bricks against the Ohio University Bobcats in front of an energetic crowd.

“We definitely felt the crowd,” sophomore guard Enjulina Gonzalez said. “Home court advantage is definitely real, and we were feeding off of [it], but most importantly, we were feeding off of each other.”

WBB: 72-34 victory

The women’s basketball team (12-8, 5-5 in conference play) started the day with a 72-34 victory after outscoring the Bobcats (4-16, 2-8 in conference play) in four straight quarters. The game marked Miami’s largest margin of victory in the series against Ohio.

Gonzalez played one of her best games of the season with 23 points, 13 of which coming in the third quarter, as well as six rebounds and four steals. Graduate student guard Maya Chandler contributed 17 points, her sixth double-digit game since Mid-American Conference (MAC) play started.

The Bobcats took a 4-0 lead early in the first quarter, but six points from Gonzalez kept the RedHawks up 11-6 after 10 minutes of play.

Graduate student guard Maya Chandler added seven points, including a 3-pointer, in the first two minutes of the second quarter. For the next four minutes, the RedHawks went on a 14-5 run to take a 25-11 lead.

Chandler matched Ohio graduate student guard Anyssa Jones with a 3-pointer, and sophomore forward Amber Tretter added two to Miami’s score, giving the RedHawks a 30-14 advantage going into half.

After scoring eight points in the first half, Gonzalez added another 13 in the third quarter, including two 3-pointers. Senior guard Cori Lard sank a deep shot with one second left in the third to give Miami a 51-24 lead going into the final 10 minutes.

Sophomore guard Lakresha Edwards and junior guard Camille Jackson added 12 points in the fourth quarter. The RedHawks took their victory 72-34 and returned to .500 in MAC play.

Miami out-rebounded Ohio 47 to 27 and stole the ball 11 times, and the RedHawks overall played stellar defense enroute to their 33-point differential.

“We turned it up defensively,” head coach Glenn Box said. “We were really good in gaps, and our activity was stellar. We did a great job of walling up and not fouling, something that we really talked a lot about. I’m pleased with what I saw today. We needed to bounce back in a big way, [and] we did.”

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Photo by Ellie Reynolds | The Miami Student
Graduate student guard Maya Chandler driving for the hoop at Millett Hall against the Bobcats on Feb. 1

MBB: 73-69 victory

Shortly after the women’s game concluded, the men’s basketball team took to the court looking for a much-needed win against the No. 4 Bobcats.

The RedHawks (16-5, 8-1 in conference play) took the game to the final minute but came out on top with a 73-69 victory over the Bobcats (11-10, 5-4 in conference play). The win keeps Miami at No. 2 in the MAC.

Once again, the RedHawks thank the environment for their success.

“We’ve never played in an environment like that,” sophomore guard Evan Ipsaro said. “We were so excited for this game because we’ve been hearing [that] a lot of people are going to be coming in [and] this place will be packed. I think we really fed off that energy.”

Junior guard Peter Suder (15), redshirt sophomore wing Kam Craft (14) and Evan Ipsaro (14) all posted double-digit points. Ipsaro proved to be critical at the free throw line, as his six free throws kept Miami up late in the second half.

Sophomore wing Eian Elmer started the scoring, but the Bobcats took a 7-2 lead after five minutes of play. Suder added a layup and Craft sank a 3-pointer to keep the deficit at 12-7.

Suder shot his first 3-pointer of the game to start a 11-8 run for the RedHawks. He finished the day with three 3-pointers on five attempts.

Craft added another three to bring Miami within one point of tying 22-21. From there, the RedHawks scored eight-straight, including back-to-back 3-pointers from first-year guard Luke Skaljac, while allowing none in return.

Graduate student guard Shereef Mitchell snapped Ohio’s scoreless streak with a layup, but sophomore center Reece Potter responded with a 3-pointer, bringing the score to 35-24. Mitchell added two free throws to send the game into half with the Bobcats down by nine.

The RedHawks jumped to a 12-point lead five minutes into the second half thanks to another 3-pointer from Suder.

Junior guard Ajay Sheldon traded 3-pointers with Potter, and Suder sank his third shot from deep to bring Miami up 50-39 with 12 minutes left.

The Bobcats slowly but surely closed the gap over a seven-minute stretch, outscoring the RedHawks 18-12 to bring the deficit to 62-57. From there, both teams capitalized on free throw opportunities to keep the game close through the final moments.

Following a pair of free throws from Ipsaro, Ohio scored five-straight to bring the game within two. After Suder’s fifth personal foul, Mitchell brought the score to 64-63 with under two minutes to go.

In the final minute, both teams traded shots at the free throw line. Ohio kept the game within one point, but redshirt first-year wing Brant Byers called game with two more free throws to give Miami a 73-69 lead with one second left.

Despite the win, Miami held a double-digit lead for a better part of the second half. The RedHawks started to slip, making the game closer than it needed to be, which head coach Travis Steele acknowledged afterwards.

“We’ve got to finish the game,” Steele said. “The same thing happened against Eastern Michigan, we got up by [14] points, and we just kind of stalled out offensively.”

If the loss to Akron taught Miami anything, it was that the RedHawks needed to improve their physicality for the rest of the MAC slate. Today’s victory showcased Miami’s toughness more than anything.

“Akron [was] way more physical than us,” Ipsaro said. “That’s not what we’ve been, and that’s not who we are. We realized we need to change that. That was really an important key going into practice against Eastern and then continuing against Ohio.”

The RedHawks’ second-straight victory keeps them at second in the MAC behind the University of Akron Zips. The Bobcats stay at fourth behind the University of Toledo Rockets.

@thekethan04

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