It was finally time to savor a victory.

Miami University’s four-game losing streak came to an end Saturday night as the RedHawks men’s basketball team finished with an 11-4 run to defeat host Central Michigan 70-61 at McGuirk Arena.

“Winning’s contagious, but losing’s just as contagious,” said MU guard Will Sullivan, who put up 10 points and six rebounds. “It’s been a rough few games, but hopefully we can take this one and have it snowball into the next few.”

“Our confidence is growing,” added backcourt mate Reggie Johnson, who chipped in eight points, three boards and three steals. “Even though we haven’t shown it with our record, we’ve been working hard. We’re getting better every day.”

Johnson sank 8 of 10 free throws, 5 of 6 in the last 93 seconds, to help Miami improve to 8-12 overall and 3-5 in the Mid-American Conference East Division.

Allen Roberts (19) and Will Felder (11) were the RedHawks’ top scorers. Drew McGhee tossed in nine points, and Jon Harris notched eight.

“Obviously we’re happy with getting one on the road,” MU coach John Cooper said. “I thought the guys stuck together. The whole team, with the exception of (Josh) Sewell, played double-digit minutes, so I thought it was a good team effort.”

Asked if he was relieved to halt the losing skid, Cooper smiled and replied, “It’s not me that plays. It’s them. I hope they’re relieved. We win, they win. We lose, I lose. That’s how it goes.”

Both teams had icy shooting touches early in the game. Miami shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from the line, but shot 52.2 and 71.4 percent, respectively, after halftime.

The Chippewas, who lost their fourth consecutive game, had a 35.3 field-goal percentage. Kyle Randall tossed in 20 points and Blake Hibbitts added 12 for CMU (9-12, 2-6 MAC West).

“We’ve talked about our margin of error being slight this year,” Central coach Keno Davis said. “We didn’t make enough shots to be able to get us over the hump in a game that could go either way. I think you’re looking at a (Miami) team that has some very good veterans and did a good job defensively for keeping us to a low percentage.”

The RedHawks took the lead for good (51-48) on Roberts’ 3-pointer with 7:18 left. The visitors were only 6 of 18 beyond the arc.

MU won the board battle 36-34, boosted by Harris (seven) and Felder (six).