Feb. 22, 2006

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio--Tim Pollitz scored eight of his game-high 16 points and added two assists over the final six minutes of play to catapult Miami University's men's basketball team from a four-point deficit to a 63-30 win over the Akron Zips on Wednesday evening at Millett Hall.

The win was the RedHawks' seventh straight and their sixth consecutive in Mid-American Conference play as Miami improved to 16-8 overall and 12-3 in league action, tying it with Akron (19-7; 12-3 MAC) for second place in the league standings. Miami and Akron sit just one game behind Kent State in the league race.

Akron equaled its largest lead of the game off a Romeo Travis tip in with 6:26 remaining in the game to give the Zips the 48-44 lead. Two free throws apiece by Tim Pollitz and Nathan Peavy knotted the game, 48-48, but Rob Preston hit one of two free-throw attempts to give the Zips a one-point cushion with 5:10 remaining. Pollitz finessed in two straight layups to put the `Hawks up three points, 52-49, but Nate Linhart drained a wide-open trey to tie things up at 52 apiece with 3:36 to play.

Pollitz dumped in the go-ahead layup at 3:01 and Miami built its advantage to five points off a three-point play by Michael Bramos, which Pollitz assisted on, to give the RedHawks the 57-52 lead at the 2:11 mark. Akron was able to cut the lead to one point twice, the last coming with 13 seconds remaining. Miami was forced to call two timeouts as it tried to in-bound the ball under Akron's basket, but after the second timeout Peavy broke loose down the court for a dunk with 11 seconds remaining off a Josh Hausfeld long in-bounds pass to give Miami the 63-60 win.

Hausfeld sparked the RedHawks in the first half, nailing 4-of-6 3-pointers, including a pair of back-to-back treys mid-way through the first half. Miami was able to push its lead to eight twice in the first half, the first off a William Hatcher three-point play with 5:48 remaining to give the RedHawks a 30-22 lead and the second off a Monty St. Clair jumper at the 4:19 mark to put the RedHawks up 32-24. Akron rounded out the first half on a 5-0 run to cut the gap to three at the half, 32-29.

Akron used a 13-2 second-half run from 12:29 to 5:57 to build its 48-44 edge before Pollitz caught fire to spark the RedHawks over the final minutes of the game.

In addition to his game-high 16 points, Pollitz also handed out five assists and had two blocks and two steals. Hausfeld, who went 5-of-8 from 3-point range, knocked down a season-high-tying 15 points, while Peavy added 10 points. St. Clair hauled in a game-high-tying seven boards.

Travis paced the Zips with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Preston added 12 and Dru Joyce added 11 points.

Miami travels to Kent State for a 2 p.m. battle with the league leader on Saturday, Feb. 25. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net Ohio as the MAC Game of the Week.

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