DAYTON, Ohio — Eian Elmer scored 23 points and Brant Byers added 19 as Miami (Ohio) used a 3-point barrage to beat SMU 89-79 in an NCAA Tournament First Four contest Wednesday night.
Luke Skaljac added 17 and Almar Atlason had 12 as Miami (32-1) rebounded from its only loss of the season — a setback to UMass in the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals — to post its first NCAA Tournament win since 1999. Miami finished 16 of 41 (39%) from 3-point range.
The RedHawks advance as a No. 11 seed to play No. 6 seed Tennessee in a Midwest Region first-round game Friday afternoon in Philadelphia.
“The message I gave our guys before the game was they should leave no doubt who the more attacking team was, and I thought that was very evident from the jump ball all the way to the end of the game,” Miami coach Travis Steele said. “Very proud of our guys, but obviously there’s a lot to be done yet.”
The RedHawks had a heavily partisan crowd on their side inside University of Dayton Arena, just 40 miles east of Miami’s Oxford, Ohio, campus. Last year, Xavier used the same energy from its Cincinnati fan base to rally past Texas in a First Four game.
“Really appreciated all the Miami fans showing out,” Steele said. “In a lot of ways, it was a home game for us. It’s such a unique opportunity to come watch an NCAA Tournament game. We’re only 50 minutes away from campus, so very, very appreciative of that.”
Jaden Toombs had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Jaron Pierre Jr. added 18 for SMU (20-14), which hasn’t won a tournament game since 1988. Playing without guard B.J. Edwards, the ACC leader in steals, SMU had trouble containing Miami’s perimeter game.
Edwards, who also averaged 12.7 points per game, tested his injured ankle but could not go. SMU went 1-5 to end the season without him in the lineup.
“We had a really good year at SMU, made March Madness, first time in nine years at the school,” said SMU coach Andy Enfield. “(We) won 20 games and competed at the highest level. Basically B.J. is not up here, he had a serious injury and tried to get back. But overall just a terrific season. Tonight didn’t go our way. Miami played an outstanding basketball game. We had our chances.”
The RedHawks converted 10 of 25 attempts from beyond the arc to take a 43-34 halftime lead.
Miami used a 13-0 run in the second half to break a 50-50 tie after SMU had rallied to take a brief 49-48 lead on a dunk by Corey Washington. SMU cut its deficit to seven on a 7-0 run, but Elmer drained a 3-pointer with four minutes remaining to put the lead back to 10. Elmer sank another trey 54 seconds later to help put the game away.
SMU’s Boopie Miller had eight points in the first half, including a basket that put him over the 2,000-point plateau. Miller wound up with 15 points on the night and 2,011 in his career.
–Mike Petraglia, Field Level Media
