MIAMI BASKETBALL

UMass dominates inside; ends RedHawks win streak

By MIKE SMITH
​CLEVELAND, OH -- After 31 straight regular season wins, the Miami RedHawks' historic win streak came to an abrupt end Thursday as UMass dominated the boards and paint to pull off an 87-83 win in quarterfinal action at Rocket Arena.

The third time proved to be the charm for UMass (17-15, 7-11 MAC), which had dropped two close games to MU earlier this season. Leonardo Bettiol, a 6-9 senior who averages 17.8 ppg and 7.0 rpg, led the Minutemen with 25 points and eight rebounds. Marcus Banks tallied 18 points, while Jayden Ndigue (16) and Daniel Hankins Sanford (11) also reached double figures.

Miami (31-1, 18-0 MAC) was . . . 

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. . . led by Brant Byers' 17 points, six of which came at the foul line. Eian Elmer followed with 16 points. Antwone Woolfolk added 14, while Peter Suder and Luke Skaljac chipped in 10 apiece.

To some extent, the contest pitted Miami's perimeter offense against the UMass inside game. The RedHawks finished with nine more 3-point goals but put up 33 long balls to make 12.  Massachusetts, meanwhile, connected on 3 of 15 treys. 

The Minutemen made one more free throw, but the key difference came in field goals and rebounding. 

•  UMass hit 35 of 57 attempts (52%). Miami made 29 of 60. (48%).
    -- Most of the Minutemen damage game inside as UMass scored 54 points in the paint. 
•  Massachusetts dominated the boards, out-rebounding Miami 41-24 overall and 17-9 on the offensive end. That helped the Minutemen own a 23-8 advantage in second chance points. 

The two teams traded leads and remained close through the first half. Woolfolk's basket off an inbound lob with .5 seconds left gave Miami a 39-37 halftime edge.

Miami remained in front and built up an 11-point lead following Elmer's triple at 8:33. UMass then scored 19 of the next 26 points. When Banks knocked down a fast break triple with 3:54 remaining, the Minutemen led 77-76. 

MU managed to tie the contest (81-all) on a Suder bucket with 50 seconds left. However, Hankins-Sanford's layup and a pair of Banks free throws after an MU turnover gave UMass a four-point advantage with 18 seconds remaining. Both teams added two more points before the final horn.