Miami (OH) survives scare against Western Michigan, still chasing undefeated season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Miami (OH) is still perfect, but not without a scare.
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Trey Perry’s layup in the final second lifted the RedHawks to a 69-67 victory over Western Michigan on Friday night, pushing Miami to 29-0 and within two wins of completing an unbeaten regular season.
Perry finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, none bigger than his game-winner after Miami erased a second half deficit in hostile territory. Almar Atlason added 16 points, including 12 after halftime. His four-point play with 3:26 remaining trimmed a five-point deficit to one and ignited the late surge.
The RedHawks were heavy favorites entering the night, faced adversity from the start. Western Michigan built an early six-point lead and closed the first half on a 7-0 run. From that point on, things worsened when leading scorer Peter Suder fouled out with 7:03 remaining and Miami trailing 57-50. Suder had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting in just 27 minutes. The Redhawks starting point guard Luke Skaljac also was sidelined by injury.
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Miami took the lead back with under two minutes left. From there, the RedHawks leaned on aggressive defensive play.
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The victory avoided what would have been a damaging Quad 4 loss and kept Miami’s at-large resume intact. Despite an unremarkable non-conference schedule and the perfect Mid-American Conference’s slate, the RedHawks remain the nation’s lone undefeated team.
Miami closes the regular season at home against Toledo (15-13) on March 3 and at Ohio (15-13) on March 6. The RedHawks are seeking to become the first team since Gonzaga in 2021 to finish the regular season unbeaten.
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