The University of Miami men’s basketball team fell in overtime, 78-74, to the Mount St.Mary’s Mountaineers (8-4, 1-1 MAAC) Saturday afternoonat the Watsco Center.
Senior Matthew Cleveland led the Hurricanes in scoring with 19 points for his fifth double-figure scoring game of the season. Graduate student Lynn Kidd paced Miami on the glass, totaling 13 rebounds for his third consecutive game with double-digit boards.
Freshman Jalil Bethea and senior Jalen Blackmon also scored in double-figures in the game, tallying 17 and 16 points, respectively. Bethea’s 17 points are a new career-high for the freshman.
After setting a new program record in field goal percentage last time out, the Hurricanes got off to a slow start on offense, going just 1-for-6 in the opening five minutes of the game.
However, the Hurricanes regrouped at the second media timeout and connected on seven of their next eight shots to take a 28-18 lead at the 7:19 mark of the first half. Miami finished the first half shooting 45.7 percent from the field to lead 38-28 lead at the halftime break.
On defense, the Hurricanes forced 12 Mountaineers turnovers in the first half alone, totaling 19 points off turnovers.
Mount St. Mary’s outscored Miami 17-11 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to cut the Hurricanes’ lead to four, 49-45, with 10:39 to play.
Blackmon halted the Mountaineers run with a 3-pointer at the 7:09 mark, but Mount St. Mary’s continued to fight and a converted and-one by Terrell Ard Jr., tied the game at 64 with 3:08 left in the game.
The Mountaineers retook the lead 66-64 shortly thereafter, but Bethea responded with a driving layup to tie the game at 66 with one minute to play. Neither team could score in the final minute to send the contest to overtime.
The teams traded buckets in the first two minutes of the overtime period until Mount St. Mary’s knocked down a trio of free throws to take a 74-70 lead with 51.9 seconds to go. Bethea cut the lead to two on a pair of free throws, but time ran out for the Hurricanes and Mount St. Mary’s secured the 78-74 win.
Following the break, the Hurricanes open the new year in Chestnut Hill, Mass., against Boston College. Tipoff at Conte Forum is set for 12 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network.
