The men’s Mid-American Conference (MAC) began with the biggest upset of the season, UMass defeating the previously undefeated No. 20-ranked Miami (31-1, 18-0) OH 87-83 to begin the tournament.
“Extremely happy for our players, they’ve battled all year,” said UMass head coach Frank Martin. “We’ve been in this same situation almost every single conference game.”
Early on, Miami OH and UMass were at a stalemate, tied 8-8– this would not be the first time both teams were locked in a tie, as the contest remained fierce and fast throughout.
A last-second layup by Woolfolk off the inbound sent Miami OH up 39-37 heading into halftime. Woolfolk led all scorers with 13 points in the first half, shooting 6/6 from the field.
Despite being down, the Minutemen continued to control the game inside the paint, winning the rebounding battle 23-15 and scoring 26 points inside the paint.
Miami opened the second half with a fast-paced offense that put them on an 8-1 run, jumping to a 45-38 lead.
Midway through the second half, RedHawks Trey Perry connected on a corner three to set up the RedHawks with another double-digit lead, 66-56 vs the Minutemen, forcing UMass head coach Frank Martin to use a timeout.
UMass battled back after going down by 10, going on a 13-2 run over the course of three minutes to tie things up 71-71 in Cleveland.
“We had a couple of crucial turnovers down the stretch, the last four minutes,” said Miami OH head coach Travis Steele.
The teams battled back and forth, with the Minutemen finally charging ahead, picking up the 87-83 victory in Rocket Arena, becoming the one in 31-1, forcing the first RedHawks loss of the season.
“It’s just amazing, cause we came close both times we played them, at their place and then at home,” said Leonardo Bettiol. “So it’s just amazing to be able to beat them, especially in a game like this.
Bettiol finished with 25 points and 8 rebounds for the Minutemen. Jayden Ndjique and Marcus Banks Jr. stepped up big down the stretch for the Minutemen, scoring 16 and 18 points, respectively.
Miami OH’s tournament season comes to an end, with their first loss of the season eliminating them from MAC play.
“One of our goals was to win the MAC Championship, and unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to do that because we couldn’t get past UMass,” said Steele.
UMass advances to the semifinals of the tournament, where they will face the Toledo Rockets on Friday at 5 p.m.
“We’re excited, we got to enjoy this for about an hour, and we got to lock in tonight and get ready to go tomorrow,” said Martin.
