Sunday, December 19, 1999
Miami 72, Wright State 61
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — Anthony Taylor played pretty well for a guy who wasn't supposed to play.
Taylor, the Miami senior guard, was nearly scratched from the Wright State game with a bad back.
Taylor got a doctor's clearance to play Friday. And Saturday he was a star. He scored 25 points to lead the RedHawks past pesky Wright State 72-61 before a crowd of 2,912 at Millett Hall.
“I had two days off practice,” Taylor said. “That helped. It felt pretty good today. It tightened up a little in the second half. But I fought through it.”
“That's new toughness from Anthony,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said.
Ten of Taylor's points came in the critical stretch early in the second half when Miami opened up the game. Then he hit free throws late to seal the win. On the night, he was 17-of-18 from the line.
In a game in which 47 fouls were called, hitting free throws was critical.
“He saved us,” Coles said.
The win, Miami's 17th straight Millett Hall, means the RedHawks will finish the non-conference schedule at least at .500. The RedHawks, 4-3 and winners of three straight, have 11 days off before playing at Dayton in the pre-Mid-American Conference finale.
Miami's Refiloe Lethunya added 17 points, equaling a career high, and Rich Allendorf had a career-high 10 points.
“(Lethunya) got some big baskets and played tough inside,” Coles said.
Of all the games on Miami's pre-conference schedule, this one looked like the gimme: 2-6 Wright State at Millett, where Miami hasn't lost a non-conference game in six years.
But it wasn't that easy.
The Raiders, coached by Miami's all-time assist leader, Ed Schilling, have a strong inside game, and Miami was playing without its best inside defender, Mike Ensminger, who was out with a bad back.
Wright State outscored Miami 26-12 in the paint and outrebounded the RedHawks 32-25.
Miami, which struggled offensively early against Xavier and Notre Dame, had no such problems Saturday. The RedHawks hit six of their first seven shots from 3-point range to get out to a 20-14 lead with 12:15 left in the half.
They pushed the lead to nine at 29-20 with 9:02 to go.
Miami seemed to have the Raiders on the ropes. But the RedHawks struggled offensively the rest of the half, hitting only two field goals.
“That was Wright State,” Coles said. “They came with more energy than us.”
WSU tied it at 34 with 1:52 left. The half ended 36-36.
Miami missed its last three 3-pointers of the half. The RedHawks were also careless with the ball. They had 11 turnovers and only four assists in the half. Miami came in with twice as many assists as turnovers.
The other big stat: WSU had 20 points in the paint to six for MU.
Ensminger out with bad back
WRIGHT ST (61)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Holmes 25 1-9 5-5 1-2 0 1 7
Hope 28 0-2 1-2 4-8 2 5 1
Sheinfeld 25 6-10 3-3 3-9 2 4 15
Bills 32 2-5 0-1 1-1 0 5 6
May 38 5-11 4-4 1-3 0 3 15
Freeman 14 1-2 0-0 1-1 2 4 2
Melson 23 3-6 6-9 1-5 1 4 13
Petersons 15 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 1 2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 19-46 19-24 13-30 7 27 61
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.413, FT-.792. 3-Point Goals:
4-16, .250 (Holmes 0-6, Hope 0-1, Bills 2-3, May
1-4, Freeman 0-1, Melson 1-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 2 (Hope, Petersons). Turnovers: 22
(Melson 7, Sheinfeld 6, Bills 2, Freeman 2, May
2, Holmes, Hope, Petersons). Steals: 9 (May 3,
Melson 3, Bills, Freeman, Holmes).
MIAMI OHIO (72)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Grunkemeyer 30 2-5 0-0 0-5 1 4 6
Lethunya 34 5-10 6-7 2-4 0 3 17
Allendorf 28 2-2 6-9 2-2 0 3 10
Mestas 39 2-5 2-2 2-4 6 2 7
Taylor 35 3-9 17-18 1-3 1 4 25
Jameson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Stewart 26 2-8 1-2 1-3 0 2 7
Williams 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Helmers 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Reed 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Edwards 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 16-39 32-38 8-21 8 20 72
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.410, FT-.842. 3-Point Goals:
8-16, .500 (Grunkemeyer 2-2, Lethunya 1-2, Mestas
1-2, Taylor 2-5, Stewart 2-5). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 3 (Allendorf 2, Edwards).
Turnovers: 19 (Taylor 6, Mestas 4, Stewart 3,
Allendorf 2, Edwards 2, Grunkemeyer, Williams).
Steals: 10 (Mestas 4, Taylor 3, Allendorf,
Grunkemeyer, Lethunya).
__________________________________
Wright St 36 25 - 61
Miami Ohio 36 36 - 72
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 2,912. Officials: Jim
Ferrari, Kyle Ingram, Tony Garton.
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