Jan. 5, 2008

Box Score

AKRON, Ohio--In its Mid-American Conference opener, Miami University's men's basketball team suffered a 69-54 loss at the University of Akron on Saturday evening.

The loss dropped the RedHawks to 6-7 on the season and 0-1 in MAC play, while the Zips moved to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in league action.

Junior guard Eric Pollitz paced the RedHawks with a career-high 12 points, while junior center Tyler Dierkers led all players with eight rebounds. Steve McNees led the Zips with 20 points, going 6-for-6 from 3-point range. Jeramiah Woods added 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Akron.

Miami opened the game with a 4-0 lead and led 6-5 with 16:33 remaining off an Eric Pollitz basket, but that would the RedHawks' last lead of the game. A 3-point play by Eric Pollitz with 4:04 remaining in the first half put the Red and White within four of the Zips, 23-19. Akron, however, would go on a 21-0 run, scoring 18 points to round out the half, to take a 44-19 lead in with 19:02 to play.

Senior forward Tim Pollitz halted the Zip run with a layup at the 18:38 mark. Akron led by as many as 26 and held a 24-point lead, 52-28, with 15 minutes to play. Miami staged a 9-0 run off buckets by junior guard Michael Bramos, junior guard Kenny Hayes and Tim Pollitz and a 3-pointer by Eric Pollitz to pull within 15 points with 10:12 to play, 52-37. Akron extended its lead to 22 points, but the RedHawks were able to inch back and cut the Zip lead to 15 off a freshman Nick Winbush layup with seconds remaining to make the final 69-54.

The RedHawks have a week off before returning to action at Ohio University at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12.