Junior guard Eric Washington drives to the lane during a home game versus Dayton. Washington leads the team with 13.8 points per game.
Photo by Connor Moriarty
By Jack Brewster, For The Miami Student
The Miami University men's basketball team (7-12, 2-4 Mid-American Conference) picked up its first road win of the season Saturday afternoon, edging out Northern Illinois University (8-9, 2-4 MAC) 60-55.
"Good for our kids," head coach John Cooper said. "Obviously we struggled here a little bit getting off to the start of conference play, but being able to come here and win, which is hard as heck, to get a win here on the road certainly feels good. I'm happy for the kids."
Senior guard Will Sullivan led the way for the RedHawks with 14 points, including four free throws down the stretch to ice the game. Junior guard Eric Washington scored 12 points with a game-high six assists. Freshman forward Logan McLane scored a career-high 11 points, connecting on 5 of 8 attempts from the field.
"We missed some free throws down the stretch and Will Sullivan, our senior, steps up and he makes four in a row," Cooper said.
In the second half, Northern Illinois held a 37-33 advantage with 15:51 to play, but the RedHawks went up 38-37 two minutes later, and Northern Illinois never regained the lead for the rest of the game. Washington made a critical layup with just under two minutes to play to put the RedHawks up 56-54, but a missed pair of Miami free throws gave Northern Illinois a chance to take the lead with 33 seconds left. After the Huskies missed a 3-point shot, Sullivan made four free throws to secure the victory.
The Huskies were paced offensively by senior guard Aaron Armstead, who came in off the bench and scored 15 points on 6 of 11 attempts from the field. Senior guard Anthony Johnson was second on the team in scoring with 12 points on 5 of 8 attempts from the field.
The RedHawks are back in action Jan. 27 at the University of Toledo for a Tuesday night contest. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. in Savage Arena.