AMHERST, N.Y. (AP) — Luke Skaljac scored a career-high 19 points and No. 23 Miami (Ohio) held on for a 73-71 victory over Buffalo on Tuesday night, extending the longest winning streak in Mid-American Conference history to 23 games.
Brant Byers added 11 points for the RedHawks (23-0, 11-0), and Peter Suder had 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
Miami and Arizona (22-0) remain the only unbeaten teams in Division I.
Angelo Brizzi scored 22 points
and Daniel Freitag had 18 to lead Buffalo (14-9, 4-7). The Bulls have lost seven of eight games following a 13-2 start that was the second-best in the program’s Division I history.
Noah Batchelor’s 3-pointer got Buffalo within 73-71 with 11 seconds remaining. Skaljac missed two free throws in the final 16 seconds, including the front end of one-and-one after Batchelor’s basket, but Ryan Sabol’s fallaway 3-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the front of the rim.
Miami’s 73 points were a season low. The RedHawks entered the game leading the country in averaging 93.7 points.
The Bulls tied the score three times with less than seven minutes remaining before Miami took command with a 6-0 run, holding Buffalo scoreless over a 3:49 span.
Miami led 38-35 at halftime after a back-and-forth period with nine lead changes and four ties.
This was the second close game between these teams this season. The RedHawks beat the Bulls 105-102 in overtime on Jan. 17
Miami’s ranking is its highest since being No. 22 in November 1998. They are the first MAC team ranked since Buffalo finished the 2018-19 season at No. 15.
Miami (Ohio): At Marshall on Saturday in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge.
Buffalo: At South Alabama on Saturday.
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