Men’s Basketball Falls to Miami in Overtime

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State men’s basketball team led by 11 points with under five minutes to play, but visiting Miami (OH) stormed back to force overtime where the RedHawks prevailed 87-80 on Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena.

Miami (9-9, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) hit a 3-pointer by Darweshi Hunter from the right wing with 0.3 seconds on the game clock to tie the score at 72-72 and force overtime. Ball State (9-9, 1-5 MAC) led 69-58 at the 4:56 mark of the second half following a triple from Mickey Pearson Jr.

Miami had a game high 13-0 scoring run with five points to wrap up regulation and eight straight to start overtime to lead to the win. The RedHawks got out of the gates leading 8-0 and peaked their first half edge at 28-19 midway through the opening period before the hosts cut steadily into the deficit to trail only 37-35 at halftime.

Ball State got a career high 29 points from Basheer Jihad, who added four assists and three rebounds, and a double-double from Pearson Jr. (16 points and 10 rebounds), but it wasn’t enough to overcome a Miami offense that got hot late, hitting 10 of their final 13 shots from the field.

Jalin Anderson tallied 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals for the hosts, while freshman Trent Middleton Jr. provided a spark off the bench with seven points, four rebounds and a pair of assists.

The Cardinals shot 40.6 percent (26-64) from the field, including 40.0 percent (10-25) on 3-pointers and 78.3 percent (18-23) on free throws. Miami went 32 of 63 (50.8 percent) on field goals and 8 of 21 (38.1 percent) from distance.

The trio of Anderson Mirambeaux (16 points), Hunter (15) and Ryan Mabrey (15) provided the majority of the scoring for the RedHawks. Miami outrebounded Ball State 40-37 but had more turnovers (15-13).

Ball State returns to the road and is scheduled to play at Buffalo at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.