RedHawks celebrate birthday with 4th straight win

Coach Coles, 68, sees his team give up a large lead before putting away NIU.

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Staff Report 12:47 PM Monday, February 8, 2010

DEKALB, Ill. — After watching a 21-point lead slip away, the Miami University basketball team still managed to give coach Charlie Coles a happy 68th birthday.

Senior guard Kenny Hayes scored 22 points, and sophomore forward Julian Mavunga recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds as the visiting RedHawks held off the Northern Illinois Huskies 74-69 on Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Convocation Center.

“It was a nice win. We fought them off,” said Coles, whose team had watched the Huskies storm back from a 44-23 deficit late in the first half to tie the score at 57-57 with 7:13 remaining.

“We managed to make enough plays, and Julian got that drive that was big time,” Coles said.

Mavunga hit a critical inside shot with 39 seconds to play to give the RedHawks a five-point lead.

Miami led by 18 points at halftime after hitting 10-of-13 shots from behind the 3-point stripe, but NIU scored the first eight points of the second half and later tied the game on a driving shot by Darion Anderson, who led the Huskies with 16 points.

“We figured this team was too good not to make a run,” Coles said.

The victory was Miami’s fourth in a row, its second on the road in three days, and boosted the RedHawks’ record to 10-13 overall and 7-3 in the Mid-American Conference.

Nick Winbush had a big game for Miami, scoring 17 points. He connected on 7-of-12 field-goal attempts, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Hayes made 3-of-5 from behind the arc, and Antonio Ballard chipped in with 12 points.

Senior center Adam Fletcher, who missed Miami’s 56-54 win at Western Michigan on Thursday with an injured left quadriceps, did see 13 minutes of action off the bench.

Xavier Silas scored 13 points for Northern, which has lost six straight to drop to 8-14 and 4-6 in the MAC.

The RedHawks return home to face Toledo at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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