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Justin Dobbins led all scorers with 15 points. Below, Miami's Adam Fletcher looks for room against the Eagles tough inside defense. Photos by Mike Smith

According to Miami head coach Charlie Coles, Saturday’s contest was actually three games in one.

One game was the first half. Another game was the first 13 minutes of the second half. A third game was the last seven minutes of the contest. “It was three different games, and you saw three different Miami teams,” Coles said.
“Our guys … weren’t about to play any basketball when they came out in the second half,” said Coles, who had his most negative feelings about the outcome while his team still enjoyed a healthy second half lead.

“I really thought (Eastern Michigan) had that game won when they were down 14, and they sprinted out on the floor after a time out, and my team walked out on the floor,” he said.

After that Miami timeout at 17:26, Eastern Michigan outscored Miami 24-11. Carlos Medlock’s 3-pointer at 8:27 pulled the Eagles to within one point at 46-45.

After a media time out, Miami responded with a 10-1 run that culminated with one of the game’s key plays, according to Coles. Sophomore forward Julian Mavunga stuffed a Brandon Bowdry shot into the floor and Kenny Hayes converted a jumper at the other end to give MU a 56-46 lead.

Mavunga’s three blocks in the contest will add to his previous total of 16 and team total of 70. Miami came into the contest ranked second among MAC teams with an average of 3.50 blocks per game.

After an EMU time out, Antonio Green hit a trey and Medlock added a layup to pull the Eagles to within five with 3:02 remaining.

Miami’s Nick Winbush missed on a 3-point try at 2:07, but Antonio Ballard got a put-back for what Coles felt was a “big time” play.

“Is he amazing” Coles said of Ballard. “How many times at home has he come up with a hustle play to kind of get us rolling? … Now we remain three possessions ahead.”

The outcome “was still in question when Antonio got that rebound and put-back,” Miami center Adam Fletcher said. “That’s what kind of sealed the deal for us.”

Ballard’s basket turned out to be the last field goal of the game as EMU failed to score after Medlock’s goal at 3:02. Miami made three foul shots to ice the game.

Ballard made 3-of-6 from the field and 5-of-6 at the line as he and Winbush (10 points) shared Miami scoring honors.

Justin Dobbins made 6-of-10 from the field for 15  to lead Eastern Michigan. Brandon Bowdry and Medlock had 10 markers apiece.

The Eagles shot 53.6 percent in the second half as they outscored Miami 37-30, but 22.7 percent EMU shooting from the floor helped Miami build a commanding 31-14 halftime lead.

Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the second half (MU – 52.9 percent, EMU 53.6 percent).

Eastern Michigan (10-10, 2-5 MAC) ended up with more field goals (20-18) and points in the paint (20-16). Many of the latter came during the Eagles second half surge.

“We made a couple of mental mistakes where (their big men) were able to capitalize, and once that happened, it kind of opened things up for the guards,” Fletcher said. “It was definitely a battle. That’s for sure. Their low post presence is their main attack, and I think we gave them all we had. We made a couple mistakes but came out with the victory.”

Miami (8-13, 5-3 MAC) held advantages in treys (8-6), points off turnovers 15-8 and bench points (20-16). Another big plus for the RedHawks was at the line, where the hosts sank 17-of-26 (65.4 percent). Eastern Michigan converted just 5-of-13 (38.5 percent) charity tosses.

Miami, which played four games in eight days, won three of the contests – all at home. Its only loss was Tuesday in a double overtime setback at Ball State.

The RedHawks, who are winless on the road, will have two stiff tests away from Oxford next week as they meet Western Michigan Thursday (7 p.m.) and finish their schedule against Western Conference teams with a tilt against Northern Illinois Saturday (4 p.m.).

Eastern Michigan has three games of cross-division play remaining. The Eagles face Akron on the road Monday (7 p.m.) and then return home for matchups against Kent State Thursday (7 p.m.) and Ohio Saturday (4:30 p.m.).

NOTES: Coles was honored before the game for recently taking over the top spot in Mid-American Conference wins. He moved past former Toledo mentor Bob Nichols with win No. 195 as the RedHawks beat Ohio Jan. 16. Coles credited Nichols, a surprise guest at the ceremony, with helping him through his career – including a period when Coles was coaching high school ball in Toledo. The two remain friends and Coles said he was very happy to find Coles at the ceremony. “That’s one of the best things that ever happened to me,” Coles said. “To see him show up was phenomenal … Miami has now won the last 14 meetings with Eastern Michigan and holds a 45-19 overall advantage in the series… EMU’s Brandon Bowdry was one rebound shy of registering his registering his 11th double-double of the season. He had 10 points and 9 rebounds against the RedHawks. Bowdry, a 6-6, 235-pound junior, has 17 double-doubles for his career.