RedHawks fall short against Xavier

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David Kohl/AP

Miami rallies to take lead in second half, but Musketeers prevail.

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer Updated 7:46 AM Thursday, December 24, 2009

CINCINNATI — Charlie Coles loved the effort, but losing once again bit Miami University’s men’s basketball team Wednesday night, Dec. 23.

The RedHawks rallied from a 38-21 deficit to take the lead four times against host Xavier, only to watch the Musketeers escape with a 70-67 victory before a crowd of 10,250 at the Cintas Center.

“Once again, we came up short,” said Coles, whose squad fell to 3-9. “I’ll give my team a little bit more credit than they’re being given. I’m not one to think about records or else we wouldn’t play the schedule we play, but being 3-9 isn’t fun. I thought our guys played their hearts out.”

There was a wild finish in the local rivalry affair. Miami’s Kenny Hayes converted a driving layup to close the gap to 70-67 with 9.4 seconds left. After a timeout, XU couldn’t get the ball inbounds and got whistled for five seconds.

Dante Jackson came up with an apparent steal as the RedHawks threw the ball inbounds, but the officials intervened when they realized 2.7 seconds had wrongly elapsed on the clock.

The Musketeers — who lost at Butler last Saturday on a last-second clock issue — were told Miami would get possession of the ball.

“I started to look around, I felt like I was on ‘Candid Camera’,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “What happened was time went off the clock when it shouldn’t have. So the one official went to the scorer’s table to correct the timing error while the other official inbounded the ball, which we stole. They wanted a do-over, so they decided to go back to the Olympics. I felt like we were playing the Russian national team.

“But the officials got it right,” he continued. “It was tough to swallow when you see your kid steal it to seal the game.”

With new life, MU’s Hayes was able to launch a 3-point attempt. He was a couple feet behind the arc and delivered an airball that was rebounded by Jordan Crawford to end the game.

Hayes made a questioning signal to the officials about a possible foul, but there was no call.

“I thought their guy hit me on my arm,” said Hayes, who led all scorers with 24 points. “I thought I got fouled, but I’m not going to say that’s what lost the game. That’s the ref’s job to make the call. He didn’t call it.”

Julian Mavunga had a huge night for Miami, collecting 18 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 2:10 left. Crawford led XU (7-4) with 19 points.

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In my opinion Charlie Coles sure gets alot out of his players and I love the fact he plays one of the toughest schedules of any team around. Kentucky, Cincy, UD, Xavier. I am sure that he will get a string of W's soon. Go Redhawks!

FRENCHIE
11:14 AM, 12/24/2009

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