Coming off a tough loss Wednesday night in DeKalb, Ill. against Northern Illinois University, the Miami University men's basketball bounced back Saturday with a great all-around performance, giving them their third win in their past four games.

Sophomore forward Jon Harris scored a career-high 17 points while seven RedHawks finished with five points or more as Miami defeated the Central Michigan University (CMU) Chippewas Saturday 69-50.

"There were no letdowns really," senior forward Julian Mavunga said. "Everyone did their job. We got the shots that we wanted on offense and we did well on defense. That's a good formula for winning basketball games. That's why we came out on top."

In front of their home fans, the Red and White got off to a hot start jumping out to a 10-3 lead. The Chippewas tried to cut into the lead, but Mavunga and Miami kept pushing, and eventually opened up a 22-7 lead on CMU with eight minutes remaining in the half.

Defense was the key for the 'Hawks in the opening period, as they held the Chippewas to 3-20 shooting in the first half, allowing only 15 points to CMU by the half.

The second half started off well for the RedHawks as Harris and sophomore guard Quinten Rollins helped Miami open up a 39-21 lead. The Chippewas wouldn't get much closer for the remainder of the game, as Miami's extended their lead to 22 at one point.

"We just had energy tonight from start to finish and it's something that we have been missing all season," Mavunga said. "It's certainly something that we were missing on Wednesday in our loss, but we got the job done here tonight and it definitely feels good to get a win."

Defense and balanced scoring was what put the 'Hawks on the winning end. Miami held CMU to 34 percent shooting from the field and held them 22 percent from the three-point line.

Offensively, Mavunga poured in 14 points, senior forward Adam Thomas added nine, freshman guards Will and Brian Sullivan each contributed eight, Rollins scored seven and sophomore guard Josh Sewell added five off the bench for the RedHawks.

If Miami can continue to produce on offense, they will have a chance to improve their conference standing before the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament at the end of the regular season.

"I had a little more pep in my step," Harris said. "I feel like I am not worried about missing shots; I just want to go play hard every possession and do whatever I can to help this team out. As long as shots keep going in I will be feeling good. My body is feeling good, and we are playing really good. I feel like if we can keep up this intensity and momentum that we have we can have a really solid finish to the end of the year."

The Red and White will look to continue their recent strong play Wednesday when they travel north to take on the University of Akron.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and students can listen to the game on Miami's IMG Sports Network.

The next home game for the RedHawks will be Sunday when they host Tennessee State University in a non-conference game.