National Basketball Association
Miami-Florida 80, Houston Baptist 73
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Where: Watsco Center, Coral Gables, Florida
Officials:
# Bert Smith, # AJ Desai, # Bill Covington Jr.
Attendance:
6553
By Field Level Media
Guard Anthony Lawrence scored 17 points and center Ebuka Izundu added 15 as Miami survived a cold start to the second half to post an 80-73 victory over Houston Baptist on Wednesday night in Coral Gables, Fla.
Guards Chris Lykes (14) and Dejan Vasiljevic (13) also were in double figures for the Hurricanes (6-4), who snapped their losing streak at four games in playing their for the first time after a 15-day break for finals.
Guard Oliver Lynch-Daniels scored 19 points to lead the Huskies (3-7), who lost for the fifth time in their last six games.
The Hurricanes scored the first nine points of the game and hit their first four attempts from 3-point range on their way to an early 14-5 lead. They held their first double-digit lead at 24-14 and were up comfortably at 32-20 with 5:17 left in the first period.
But the Huskies were effective from behind the arc as well (11-of-23 for the game) and went on a 9-0 run to get the gap down to 32-29 on forward Philip McKenzie's 3-pointer at 3:10.
The Hurricanes got their lead back to 40-33 at intermission and finished the period going 8-of-16 from 3-point range.
But as hot as the Hurricanes were in the first half, they started the second cold, going only 3-of-10 overall in the first seven minutes, and the Huskies took advantage for their only lead when guard Jalon Gates canned back-to-back treys to put the Huskies up 48-47.
It lasted just 28 seconds because Lawrence answered with a corner 3 with 12:58 left.
After a bit of back-and-forth, the Hurricanes upped the pressure defensive and took a 65-54 lead on Vasiljevic's 3-pointer that was set up by guard Zach Johnson's steal.
After that, the Huskies managed to cut a trio of 13-point deficits down to six points going into the final minute, but could get no closer.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Houston Baptist |
|
Miami-Florida |
Oliver Lynch-Daniels 19 |
Scoring |
Anthony Lawrence II 17 |
Braxton Bonds 3 |
Assists |
Chris Lykes 4 |
Braxton Bonds 7 |
Rebounds |
Ebuka Izundu 11 |
Philip McKenzie 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Ebuka Izundu 3 |
Ian Dubose 2 |
Steals |
Zach Johnson 3 |
Ian Dubose 1 |
Blocks |
Ebuka Izundu 4 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Houston Baptist
|
73 |
49.1 |
11-23 |
8-14 |
15 |
28 |
1 |
5 |
17 |
Miami-Florida
|
80 |
50.9 |
11-28 |
11-17 |
17 |
34 |
7 |
9 |
14 |