Nov. 28, 2009

Box Score

Coral Gables, Fla. - Miami used a 20-4 run to break open a close game midway through the first half and went on to take a 70-41 victory over USC Upstate Saturday afternoon in the BankUnited Center.

Upstate's 41 points was its third-lowest scoring output since joining the ranks of Division I in 2007. The Spartans fell to 0-5 on the year, while Miami improved to 7-0. The Spartans return to Spartanburg to open A-Sun play Monday night at 7:00 against Stetson in the Hodge Center.

"I thought their length and their size at all positions caused us a lot of problems," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "We didn't get a lot of good looks from the perimeter. They contested a lot of shots and we weren't able to convert on the looks we had. We had too many turnovers in the first half and didn't make enough shots against their length."

Upstate hung tough early on and forced Miami into two turnovers on its first two possessions. After Ryan LeGates tipped in a bucket at the 14:58 mark, Upstate opened a 7-5 lead on the Hurricanes. That's when Miami made its decisive run.

Miami converted two straight three-pointers to take a four-point lead. James Dews had five points and Dwayne Collins added four in the run as the Hurricanes opened a 25-11 lead with 6:41 to play before halftime.

With Miami in control of the game, the Hurricanes increased their lead to 21 points before settling for a 38-20 lead at the intermission.

Miami was strong from the field in the first half, shooting 55 percent from the floor while forcing Upstate to just 36 percent shooting. The Spartans committed 14 turnovers in the first half, leading to 19 points off turnovers for the Hurricanes.

Upstate cut the lead to 14 points coming out of halftime, getting a jumper from Nick Schneiders and a layup from Mezie Uzochukwu. However, Miami rattled off seven straight points to increase the lead back to 21 points and the Hurricanes led by as many as 32 before taking the 29-point victory.

Miami shot 49 percent from the field for the game. Upstate did a good job of preventing the Hurricanes from shooting well behind the three-point arc. Miami entered the game shooting nearly 41 percent from the arc, but connected on just 27 percent from long range in the game. The Spartans held Miami to 12 points below its season average.

Schneiders led the way for Upstate. He finished with a team-high 11 points. He also blocked one Miami shot, bringing his career total to 131, just five blocks shy of reaching the all-time record of 136 held by Kevin Harrington (2000-04). Caleb Palkert had the best game of his young career. The freshman finished with a career-high seven points, two rebounds and two assists. Uzochukwu added seven points, four rebounds and four steals.

Upstate shot 35 percent from the field for the game. The Spartans continued to struggle from the three-point arc, hitting just 2-of-15 for the game. Upstate did a much better job of protecting the ball in the second half, committing just seven turnovers in the second half.

Collins led Miami with a game-high 17 points. He also finished with three rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Reggie Johnson added 13 points and six rebounds for the Hurricanes.