Oumar Ballo stuffed the stat sheet Friday night for 14 points, 18 rebounds and six assists as Indiana pulled away in the final 10 minutes for a 76-57 nonconference win over Miami (Ohio) in Bloomington, Ind.
Malik Reneau led a balanced scoring attack with 19 points for the Hoosiers (7-2). Myles Rice added 17, missing just one of seven shots from the floor, and Trey Galloway scored 13 points. Indiana prevailed despite leading scorer Mackenzie Mgbako managing a season-low four points in 24 minutes.
Luke Skaljac scored 14 points for the RedHawks (5-3) and Eian Elmer added 11, although he made only 4 of 13 shots. Leading scorer Peter Suder hit just 2 of 10 shots and finished with nine points, eight under his average. Suder was coming off scoring a career-high 42 on Monday night in a win over Air Force.
Miami trailed just 55-50 with 10:09 left after Skaljac drilled a 3-pointer. The Hoosiers then went on a 12-0 run, holding the RedHawks scoreless for 6:19. Luke Goode’s three-point play made it 67-50 at the 5:11 mark.
Indiana canned 53.8 percent of its field-goal attempts and owned the boards 46-98. Miami made only 30.8 percent from the floor.
Looking for its third straight win since taking consecutive blowouts last week at the Battle 4 Atlantis, Indiana got out of the gate quickly, ripping off the first eight points and taking a 10-point lead after less than five minutes on a 3-pointer from Galloway.
The Hoosiers kept Miami at bay for most of the half’s remainder, upping the margin to 12 on a two occasions as they canned 58.3 percent of their shots. Galloway’s assist to Ballo with 5:15 remaining before the break made it 33-21.
However, the RedHawks shot their way back into the game during the half’s remainder. They drilled three 3-pointers in the final 4:13 and ripped off seven straight points to close within two before Reneau made a foul shot with less than a second left to give Indiana a 39-36 edge at the break.
–Field Level Media
