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ATHENS , OH . - DeVaughn Washington scored 25 points and Tommy Freeman beat the final buzzer with a trey as Ohio pulled out a 70-68 victory over Miami Wednesday at the Convocation Center.
Washington, who was plagued by fouls and shut out in Ohio’s first meeting with Miami this season, scored 16 of his career-high 25 markers in the second half as the rival Bobcats and RedHawks wrote another chapter in the Battle of the Bricks series.
"It feels good to be on the winning end of one like that," Ohio head coach John Groce said. "It was a certainly a game that could have gone either way. ... The difference in the game is that we just made a few more plays late in the game."
Freeman not only sent the Green and White home happy with his game winner, he also helped put Ohio in a position to win as he converted five 3-balls after intermission.
“We let Freeman loose two or three times, and you can’t do that on this court,” said Miami head coach Charlie Coles, whose team was in a position to grab a critical road win with 30 seconds remaining.
Miami led 66-65 after a Washington layup. Ohio called a quick time out and eventually forced the visitors into using their final time out trying to get the ball in play. That proved costly for the RedHawks. Although they got the ball into Rodney Haddix II, Ohio came up with a steal and Washington converted two free throws for a 67-66 Bobcats lead.
Miami guard Kenny Hayes, who tallied 17 of his 20 game points in the second half, raced down court to score a go-ahead bucket with seven seconds left.
Unable to call a timeout to reset their defense, however, the RedHawks scrambled to defend. The hot-shooting Freeman ended up with the ball and a good look. He drained the shot to give Ohio (16-13) its sixth conference win against eight losses.
Miami (12-16) fell to 8-6 in the league. With conference games against league-leading Kent State (on the road) and Buffalo (a 73-55 winner at Buffalo) remaining on the regular season schedule, the RedHawks are in danger of losing a first round bye in the upcoming MAC tourney.
“We played very good (but) we made a few offensive mistakes at the end,” Coles said. “We needed to execute, and we didn’t do it.”
Ohio built an early 8-2 lead, but Miami grabbed a 10-8 advantage on a trey by Orlando Williams. The freshman’s 3-pointer was part of a 24-8 run by the RedHawks, who managed to forge a double digit lead at 26-16.
Junior forward Nick Winbush contributed seven points during the run and added another bucket just before halftime as MU took a 28-22 advantage into intermission.
Miami made 12-of-28 (43 percent) from the field in the first period while Ohio connected on 9-of-27 (33 percent). The RedHawks had a 19-17 advantage in rebounds, but OU outscored the visitors 7-2 on second chance points.
It didn’t take the Bobcats long to reel in Miami after intermission. Tommy Freeman’s early 3-ball gave Ohio its first lead since the game’s opening minutes and was a sign of things to come. Freeman’s third trey of the half started a 9-5 Ohio run that ended with Washington’s tip in for a 52-49 Bobcat lead.
Although the RedHawks had 14 turnovers, including some particularly costly miscues down the stretch, point guard Kenny Hayes played the entire game without a turnover and put the RedHawks on his back down the stretch. He gave the RedHawks the lead (53-52) with a pair of free throws and scored 13 of the team’s final 17 points.
After trailing 64-59, OU fought back to take a 67-66 lead on Washington's free throws. Hayes made his basket with seven seconds left, only to have Freeman put up the game winner in the final second.
"I honestly didn't know how much time there was on the clock but just knew I had to take the shot," Freeman said. "I thought it was off when I let it go, but I'm glad I was wrong."
Miami, which led at the half, shot 64 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes but could not hold on. Joining Hayes in double figures were Winbush (15) and Antonio Ballard (12).
Ohio's double figure scorers were Washington (25), Freeman (19, including 6-of-8 treys) and Armon Bassett (10). The Bobcats shot 57.1 percent in the second half and 45.5 percent for the game. They made 6-of-13 trey attempts (with Freeman making all six), while Miami hit 4-of-15 from behind the arc.
Miami outrebounded OU 31-25, but the Green and White enjoyed advanges in turnovers (8-14), and steals (9-5) and points off turnovers (15-3).
Both teams return to action Saturday. Ohio will be at Buffalo (7 p.m.). Miami visits Kent for a 7 p.m. tilt.
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