Sports

OXFORD — The Miami RedHawks are down to one point guard now. One was more than enough Tuesday night.

True freshman Alex Moosman, filling in for an injured Carl Richburg, played all 40 minutes and dished out 10 assists as Miami beat the Illinois-Chicago Flames 72-61 at Millett Hall.

"I thought Alex did a great, great job," said Miami coach Charlie Coles, whose team evened its record at 2-2. "He had a couple timely baskets, and he had 10 assists and only two turnovers."

Coles said Moosman is slower than Richburg, and in a way that's good.

"What Moosman does is make us slow," Coles said. "That's the way we want to play right now. We'll take a fastbreak, but we must slow it down."

Moosman said it was a matter of playing with patience.

"They were relentless (on defense)," he said of the Flames (1-3), "so any time you play a trapping team like that, there is going to be somebody open."

Multiple contributions

According to Coles, sophomore guard Michael Bramos "all in all was the guy tonight. He made some plays that were phenomenal. Night in and night out, he has the most energy of anyone on our team."

Bramos nailed 4-of-5 shots from the 3-point arc and finished with 16 points, but he wasn't the only RedHawk with impressive numbers.

Nathan Peavy led all scorers with 18 points, hitting 5-of-6 field goal attempts. Monty St. Clair didn't score a point, but had 10 rebounds in only 24 minutes.

Tim Pollitz muscled his way for 15 points. Doug Penno scored 10 points off the bench. And Tyler Dierkers hit 2-of-3 shots and 2-of-2 free throws for six points, three rebounds and two assists.

Play of the game

The RedHawks, who had seen a 16-point lead slashed to six in the closing minutes, put the game out of reach when Bramos fired a pass four-fifths the length of the court to Peavy, who was fouled intentionally by T.J. Gray but still made a lay-up with 20.5 seconds left. Peavy made 1-of-2 free throws and Miami kept possession of the ball. A second later Penno was fouled and made both foul shots, giving the RedHawks what amounted to a 5-point play.

On the mend

Richburg sat out Tuesday's game after suffering a relapse of the ankle injury which had sidelined him early in the preseason.

"He'll be out awhile," Coles said. "That's going to hurt us."