RedHawks’ night ruined by rally

Miami sees 10-point 2nd-half lead disappear, falls to Northern Illinois.

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12:23 AM Thursday, February 9, 2012

Staff Report

DEKALB, Ill. — A familiar problem, a late-game fade, popped up Wednesday night and stung Miami University’s men’s basketball team.

The Northern Illinois Huskies rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half to defeat the RedHawks 62-59 at Convocation Center.

“We didn’t play smart and we didn’t rebound,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said. “That’s the two things. This team (Northern Illinois) had 16 offensive rebounds. Our big guys refused to get in there and get with it.”

NIU outrebounded Miami 36-25, and no RedHawks player had more than six.

The loss snapped Miami’s brief two-game winning streak and dropped the RedHawks’ record to 7-15 overall, 3-7 in the Mid-American Conference.

The RedHawks also suffered losses in MAC games after leading in the second half against Akron, Kent State, Bowling Green and Ohio.

Miami sophomore forward Jon Harris did score a career-high 15 points with five 3-point baskets. He was one of four RedHawks to score in double figures.

Julian Mavunga also scored 15 points for Miami, Quinten Rollins had 12, and Drew McGhee added 11.

Senior forward Tyler Storm led Northern Illinois with 17 points. Aksel Bolin scored 12, and Stian Berg had 11.

The Huskies snapped a six-game losing streak and improved to 3-18, 2-8 in the MAC.

A crowd of just 768 watched Northern Illinois take a 15-12 lead on back-to-back 3-point baskets by Storm and Antone Christian, but a 3-pointer by Brian Sullivan sparked a 15-7 run by the RedHawks which also included treys by Harris and Rollins. Northern Illinois responded with a 7-0 spurt and led 30-29 at halftime.

The RedHawks scored 10 straight points in the second half, with McGhee scoring seven of the points, to take a 44-34 lead with 14:05 remaining.

Miami will return to action at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Millett Hall against Central Michigan in a doubleheader which starts with the Miami women facing Northern Illinois at 1 p.m.

Next game

Who: Central Michigan (7-16, 2-8 MAC) at Miami (7-15, 3-7)

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Millett Hall, Oxford

TV: None

Radio: WMOH-AM (1450)

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