Despite shooting a dreadful 0-15 from three-point land and snapping a streak of 55 contests with at least one swish from downtown, the Miami University RedHawks basketball team showed some growth Wednesday night in a loss to the University of Akron Zips.

A late run by the Red and White (11-15, 8-5 Mid-American Conference (MAC)) earned them their first lead before it was quickly snatched away by stellar Zip (20-7, 10-3 MAC) defense, resulting in a 61-56 setback.

"This team came a long way tonight," Head Coach Charlie Coles said. "The average fan is not going to see that. All they know is that we are 11-15. If you were here, you saw us grow. I thought there were some beautiful things there. Effort was there for longer than we have had in a long time around here. I got to build on that. I have to convince these guys they've got it. We can do the job. We just have to be a little bit tougher and a lot smarter."

The Zips zoomed to an 8-2 run as the first whistle sounded and were off to the races. Even shooting 42 percent for the game was not enough to keep the RedHawks in it as they also committed 11 turnovers to just four helpers and they couldn't buy a shot from downtown. Coles' men kept an eye on the Zips and cut the deficit to two twice in the final 1:30 of the first half, lastly on junior Rodney Haddix's layup that sent them in to the lockers down 29-27.

An experienced Zips squad made a made a two point lead a nine point lead five minutes into the last act. The Red and White responded with a 7-0 run to get back within two and reeled in the northern foe to make it a ball game when they went down just 48-47. Seniors Kenny Hayes and Adam Fletcher lit the flame during the run with a Hayes layup and a Fletcher stuff. Moments later, an Allen Roberts and-one gave the RedHawks their first lead of the night at 50-49. 'Hawk hustle kept them in the game but a 6-0 Zip run overwhelmed the home team. Roberts returned to the rim for another hoop late but the Zips responded on back-to-back possessions to sew up a victory.

"It was a really good ball game," Coles said. "That's the bad part of what we do is we got to win or lose. It would be different if you knew you were going to lose or win. We fought hard for about 22 minutes of that game. We played as hard as any team I can remember us having at Miami. That intensity got really good. I was on cloud nine because it was good to watch. In the last five minutes we didn't play smart or hard. Akron's basketball I.Q. is very high."

Hayes paced the RedHawks offensively with 16 points and 6 boards while Fletcher netted a dozen. Junior Nick Winbush had a block party with four swats in front of a large Millett Hall following.

"I thought we were going to pull it off," Hayes said. "We had a nice crowd tonight and they were behind us. We finally took the lead and we just didn't convert. It was tough. The only thing to do now is continue to work and learn from this."

The defeat pushes the RedHawks two games behind the Zips in the MAC East standings, but they will look to turn it around Saturday, when they host Southeast Missouri State University. The RedHawks will be battling other RedHawks for an ESPN BracketBuster game at 2:30 p.m.

"The loss hurts and sets us back but we have to look on the bright side," sophomore Julian Mavunga said. "We still have something to play for. This is a season that everyone thought was lost but it's a season that we have revived. The No. 1 thing is for us to practice hard. We need to work collectively, make sure we are on the same page and look forward."