March 8, 2007
Box Score
CLEVELAND - Behind a season-high 60-percent shooting performance, Miami ended Ohio's season in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Wednesday afternoon in Quicken Loans Arena by a final of 70-51.
Fourth-seeded Miami (16-14) blistered the nets at a 65-percent clip in the first frame to put the Bobcats (19-13) down by their largest first half deficit of the season and Ohio was never able to recover as its season came to an end.
Miami junior Tim Pollitz led all scorers in the game with a career-high-tying 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting to lead the RedHawks into a semifinal date with top-seeded Toledo on Friday. Leon Williams (Baltimore, Md.) paced the Bobcats with 22 points, but was the only Ohio player to reach double figures.
Although the RedHawks had been idle since Sunday, and fifth-seeded Ohio had played on the Quicken Loans Arena court yesterday, it was Miami that came out with the hot hand from the very beginning. The RedHawks knocked down six of their first seven shots from the field and build a 13-5 lead behind six tallies from Pollitz.
An Alex Moosman three at 12:55 forced an Ohio timeout, but out of the huddle with just five points in the game's first seven minutes of play, the Bobcats quickly clawed back into the contest behind a Stephen King (Richfield, Minn.) lay-up and a Whitney Davis (Ann Arbor, Mich.) three-point play to cut the lead to 13-10.
Miami kept the pressure on however, and immediately took back any momentum Ohio might have gained. The RedHawks reeled off 10-straight points - all from Pollitz and Nathan Peavy - in just two minutes of game time to run out to a 23-10 lead. Down by its largest deficit of the game at that point. the Ohio bench was forced to take its second timeout.
The Bobcats had one more run in them in the half as they strung together seven of the game's next nine points to draw within eight at 25-17, but Miami took a commanding grasp of the contest over the course of the last 5:19 as it went on a 22-4 run for a 39-21 lead at the half.
In the half, Miami shot 65-percent from the floor (15-of-23) while Ohio was only able to sink 30-percent (7-of-23) of its shots. The RedHawks also had complete control of the rebounding battle with a 19-8 edge.
Peavy paced Miami at the break with 14 while Pollitz netted 12. King led all Ohio scorers with six.
The 18-point deficit at the half was Ohio's largest in 32 games this year, and the 39 points were also the most Miami had netted in the first half of a game this season.
The first half essentially set the tone for the game as Ohio was unable to make any significant runs at Miami in the second. The Bobcats outscored Miami 9-4 to start the half and cut the deficit to 41-29 with 13:33 remaining on a jumper by Williams, but Miami was never threatened.
The RedHawks answered Ohio's initial surge with a 12-5 run, capped of by a Doug Penno three at 8:44 to extend to its largest advantage of the game at that point, 53-44. With the two squads trading buckets, Miami then took its first 20-point lead of the day on Michael Bramos' jumper with just under six minutes to go to extend to a 63-43 lead.
Ohio would get no closer than 17 down the stretch as Miami cruised to the victory.
For the game Miami shot a season-high 60.4-percent (29-of-48) from the floor compared to Ohio's 38.1-percent (16-of-42) effort. The Bobcats were especially cold from behind the three-point arc where they were just 2-of-16.
Miami was also plus-15 (33-18) in rebounding and finished with a 36-22 edge in points-in-the-paint.
Coming into the game, Ohio had eliminated Miami in three of the last four MAC Tournaments. The Bobcats are now 5-2 all-time against Miami in the tournament. Ohio had also been 4-0 all-time in quarterfinal games under Head Coach Tim O'Shea.
The game was the last in an Ohio uniform for seniors Sonny Troutman (Indianapolis, Ind.), Davis, King and Matt Annen (Elk River, Minn.). With four more today, Troutman finished with 259 steals for his career, and 82 this year, both of which are school records.
The Ohio senior class helped the Bobcats to 59 wins in the last three seasons, including the 2005 MAC Tournament title.
The Bobcats have six scholarship players who will return for next season, including transfer Justin Orr. Ohio inked four high school seniors in the early signing period and has three scholarships available for the 2007-08 season.
