No. 11 Miami 89, No. 11 SMU 79
Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio– The Miami University men's basketball team knocked down 16 three-pointers and rode the momentum from a pro-RedHawk crowd at UD Arena to defeat SMU 89-79 Wednesday night in the NCAA Tournament. Eian Elmer led Miami (32-1) with 23 points, while Brant Byers added 19 and Luke Skaljac chipped in 17. SMU finishes its season with a record of 20-14, while Miami advances to take on sixth-seeded Tennessee on Friday, March 20 at 4:25 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pa.

SMU scored the first four points of the contest before Skaljac answered back with a tough fading mid-range jumper and a straightaway three-pointer to put Miami up 5-4. A two-handed dunk by Almar Atlason made it 7-7, and Elmer hit his first triple of the night for a 10-9 lead at the 14:50 mark. Elmer's personal 11-0 run gave Miami a double-digit lead at 23-13 with just over seven minutes to play after the junior wing knocked down three more shots from downtown, sandwiched around his 1,000th career point on an acrobatic finish in transition.

Consecutive three-pointers from Byers and Justin Kirby helped Miami maintain its lead at 34-25, but the Mustangs wouldn't go away, answering right back from distance. Late in the half, Byers exploded for nine points in the space of just over a minute —following a three-point play with a pair of deep threes— to help the RedHawks close the period on a 9-2 spurt and take a 43-34 lead to the locker room.

A Suder three-point play opened the scoring for Miami in the second half to make it 46-38. The Mustangs responded with a 9-1 run to even the score, but Suder hit a free throw and then stopped on a dime to drain a long pull-up jumper for a 50-49 advantage. Suder found Byers from way downtown for a go-ahead three at 53-50, and Atlason scored the next five points for the Red and White to force an SMU timeout with 11:16 remaining. Atlason then stretched the lead to 63-50 after curling to the top of the arc to hit a three-pointer near the midway point of the half.

Miami took its largest lead of the night at 71-57 with 7:15 to go, following an Antwone Woolfolk jump hook with a Skaljac three that caused the crowd to erupt even louder than before. Woolfolk found a cutting Kirby with a no-look bounce pass for a lay-in to make it 75-61 at the six-minute mark. Elmer buried what might have been the biggest shot of the night with four minutes to go, draining a right corner three off an Atlason feed for a 78-68 lead. On Miami's next possession, a Suder offensive rebound set up Elmer for another triple to make it 81-68 with three minutes left. Elmer put the exclamation point on Miami's first NCAA Tournament win since 1999 with a gigantic dunk in the final minute, and the RedHawks went on to close out an 89-79 victory to advance to the round of 64.

Recap courtesy of Miami Athletic Communications