Jan. 26, 2008

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OXFORD, Ohio--After taking a commanding 43-25 lead at the half, Miami University's men's basketball team rolled to a 65-52 win over Eastern Michigan University on Saturday evening at Millett Hall.

The RedHawks improved to 8-10 on the season and 2-4 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Eagles dropped to 7-11 overall and 3-3 in league action.

Senior forward Tim Pollitz scored 22 points and had nine rebounds to lead all players and added five assists and two steals to his performance. Junior center Tyler Dierkers recorded 13 points, five rebounds and game-highs of seven assists and four steals. Junior guard Kenny Hayes also recorded 18 points in the winning effort.

The win moved head coach Charlie Coles into sole possession of second place on the MAC's all-time league win list with a career total of 177 conference triumphs. It also was the RedHawks' 12th consecutive win in the series with the Eagles.

The RedHawks scored points in chunks during the first half, eventually building a 14-point lead with 8:54 to play off a sophomore guard Alex Moosmann 3-pointer to give Miami a 29-15 lead.

A layup by Tim Pollitz with 4:05 remaining in the half pushed the RedHawk lead to 16 points, 36-20. After a free throw by Dierkers, an Eric Pollitz layup sandwiched between a pair of Tim Pollitz buckets comprised a 7-0 RedHawk run to extend the Miami lead to 20 points by the 1:05 mark, 43-23. EMU's Justin Dobbins tossed in a jumper as time expired to cut the Miami lead to 18 points at the half, 43-25.

Miami would lead by 20 points with 18:25 to play off a Dierkers layup, 47-27, and with 17:29 remaining off a Tim Pollitz layup, 49-29. Eastern Michigan scored five unanswered points to cut the gap to 15 points, but Miami would eventually use a six-point run--capped by a sophomore center Adam Fletcher jumper--to take its larges lead of the game with 8:32 remaining, 59-38.

The Eagles rattled off eight unanswered points to cut the cap to 13 points with 6:53 to play, but a Dierkers layup with 6:44 remaining halted the run. EMU would get no closer than 13 points as the RedHawks went on to capture the 65-52 win.

Eastern Michigan was led by Carlos Medlock with 15 points, while Justin Dobbins also scored in double figures for the Eagles with 12 points.

Miami hits the road for a pair of games next week when the RedHawks travel to Northern Illinois for an 8 p.m. (ET) game on Wednesday, Jan. 30 and then go to Ball State for a 2 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 2.