OAKLAND 80, TOLEDO 59
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OXFORD, Ohio-- Precious Ayah scored 12 of his career-high 18 points in the first half to lead Miami to an 80-65 victory over Stetson Tuesday. Miami (3-0) scored the first eight points of the game and never trailed. Dae Dae Grant poured in 16 of his 18 points after halftime for the RedHawks, while Dalonte Brown added 16 points and Myja White chipped in 11. Josh Smith had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead Stetson (1-2).
HOW IT HAPPENED
>> The Hatters misfired on their first seven three-pointers as Miami jumped out to an early 15-6 lead.
>> The visitors responded with back-to-back triples to keep things close, draining five of six attempts behind the arc in one stretch.
>> Miami used a 10-0 run to stretch the margin to 13 points at 25-12.
>> The home team settled for a 38-26 advantage at intermission, holding Stetson to 34.6% shooting from the floor in the opening half.
>> Dae Dae Grant's length-of-the-floor pass to Dalonte Brown gave Miami its largest lead at 47-32 with 17:52 to play.
>> Grant hit field goals on three consecutive offensive possessions out of the under-12 media timeout to push Miami's lead from 57-49 to 64-51.
Stetson cut the lead to 10 briefly, but Luka Eller's free throws with 8:31 to play put Miami back up 69-55.
>> The Hatters battled back as close as 71-63 with 3:00 to play but could get no closer.
OAKLAND 80, TOLEDO 59
ROCHESTER, Mich. – Sophomore Ryan Rollins scored a team-high 21 points but that wasn't enough on Wednesday evening in Toledo's 80-59 defeat at Oakland. The Rockets held a 32-31 halftime lead but couldn't overcome a season-high 18 turnovers or slow down a red-hot Golden Grizzlies' attack in the second half.
Toledo finished the contest with a season-low 33.9 field-goal percentage and was just 6-of-22 (27.3%) behind the three-point arc against the Golden Grizzlies' zone defense. Oakland registered a 48.5 shooting mark, including a 56.3 effort in the second half.
"Oakland's zone is very disruptive and it's hard to simulate in practice," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "For some of our guys that was the first time they've seen a zone like this. I thought we played better than Oakland in the first half but just turned it over too much. We could have maybe been up eight or 10 points but we had 11 turnovers. We'll learn from this and get better from it."
Rollins was joined in double figures by juniors RayJ Dennis (11 pts.) and JT Shumate (10 pts.). Junior Setric Millner Jr. paced the Rockets with 11 rebounds.
Graduate transfer Jamal Cain topped Oakland with 29 points and 17 rebounds in 36 minutes.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
>> Toledo started strong and took an early 9-2 lead with Ryan Rollins hitting a three-pointer and driving for a layup in the first two minutes.
>> The Rockets maintained that lead until Jamal Cain's layup put Oakland in front 17-16 with 9:02 remaining in the half.
>> Neither team led by more than three minutes the rest of the half. The Rockets did take three-point leads on three occasions in the final five minutes but couldn't extend their advantage any further.
>> Toledo held a 32-31 lead at halftime despite committing 11 turnovers.
SECOND HALF
>> The first five minutes featured five lead changes before Oakland broke free from the Rockets with a 12-0 spurt to go in front 56-43 following Cain's three-point play with 11:11 remaining.
>> Rollins knocked down a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to cut the Rockets' deficit to 10 points.
>> A 10-2 Oakland run put Toledo down 70-50 with 5:52 left to end any hopes of a comeback bid.