OAKLAND CITY, Ind. – The Miners were able to keep Chad Miller in check for much of the second half, but Oakland City’s senior guard came up with the big shot down the stretch to win the game for the Mighty Oaks.
Miller nailed a three-pointer with 18 seconds to go, giving OCU a 63-59 win over UMR Tuesday night.
UMR held leads at various points in the first half, but the Oaks outscored the Miners 14-7 over a stretch of eight minutes to take a seven-point lead at 27-20.
Justin Taylor hit a pair of three-pointers to get the Miners closer, then a put-back by Joe Shardo got the Miners to within one at 29-28 with eight seconds left in the half. However, Miller hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Oaks into the locker room with a four-point lead.
Oakland City carried that momentum into the start of the second half, scoring the first eight points to go up by 12. Mervyn Clarke’s dunk after a steal made it 40-28, but Clarke was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim.
UMR scored four straight points immediately after the technical, but after the Oaks pushed the lead back out to 11, the Miners rattled off 11 unanswered points and tied the game at 43 on Shea Wiemann’s tip-in with 11:33 to go.
Keegan Carmony ended the run by connecting on a baby hook in the lane with under ten minutes left, giving the Oaks the lead back. It also started a six-point by OCU that made it 49-43 before UMR scored the next five points.
A three-point basket by Eric Sanders got the margin back to four with less than six minutes to play, then the Miners got to within two on a driving layup by Yamani Ball with 3:42 left. However, after the Miners nearly made a steal, Carmony hit a three with a second left on the shot clock to push OCU’s lead to five.
Sanders made it a seven-point game by making two free throws with 2:02 on the clock, then UMR got a tip-in from Shardo and a steal in the backcourt, but Ball missed a runner in the lane that could have brought the Miners to within three.
UMR got a couple of more chances moments later, but missed three chances to make it a one-possession game. However, another turnover by the Oaks gave UMR another opportunity, which the Miners took advantage of to tie the game.
First, Shardo hit a long three-pointer to draw the Miners to within two, then after the Oaks couldn’t get the ball in-bounds, Dan Kieres was fouled and hit two free throws to tie it with 51 seconds left.
But at the other end, Miller got free and knocked down a three from the wing with 18 seconds left and four on the shot clock to give the Oaks the lead back. Taylor missed a shot at the other end and Carmony made one of two at the line for the final margin.
Shardo led the Miners (7-11) with 15 points, while Taylor and Wiemann finished with 12 points apiece. Miller, who had 16 points in the first half, led all scorers with 21 points.
UMR will host Missouri-St. Louis Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building.
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