Men's basketball loses to Miami of Ohio in BracketBuster game

It was a tale of two halves for the ISU men's basketball team Saturday as it dropped a 70-58 decision to the Miami of Ohio Redhawks in the Hulman Center. Everything went right in the first half for the Sycamores, as they shot 52 percent from the field and made 6-11 three-pointers. ISU also held a 17-9 rebounding advantage at halftime. "I thought in the first half (the Redhawks) played our screen soft and we were able to get open," ISU head coach Royce Waltman said. "I thought they played us a lot harder in the second half and we weren't able to get the ball to the basket which we needed to do." The second half was one to forget for the Sycamores. ISU was held to just one point in the first nine minutes of the second half and made just six field goals for the remainder of the game. The Redhawks displayed a balanced offense during the game. Nathan Peavy led the way with 22 points and nine rebounds. Tim Pollitz contributed 19 points. The Redhawks and Sycamores both started the game with good shot selection and an inability to make defensive stops. The two teams traded baskets for much of the first half. After a three-point play from the Redhawks' Eric Pollitz tied the game at 20, ISU built some momentum with a 10-0 run culminated with a basket from ISU senior forward Trent Wurtz. The Redhawks clawed back with five straight points to cut the Sycamores lead 32-27 with 1:29 left in the first half. ISU junior guard Gabe Moore drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to take a 38-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the second half, the Redhawks built a 44-39 lead after a 13-1 run. ISU finally got its first field goal of the second half at the 10:47 mark when junior center Mick Yelovich connected on a hook shot to cut the lead 44-41. Yelovich provided the lone spark off the bench for ISU, scoring all nine bench points. "Offensively he only played 14 minutes and had nine points and four boards which is productive," Waltman said of Yelovich. "Clearly he has been contributing more than he had been before." After the Sycamores fell behind 50-41, they were able to score five straight points to cut the lead 50-46, but that was as close as they could get as the Redhawks' defense held on for the victory. Moore led the Sycamores with 15 points. He also dished out eight assists and had four steals while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Freshman guard Cole Holmstrom had 13 points - all in the first half. Wurtz pitched in 11 points while playing hurt. "That's hard for him. He played 24 minutes which may be too many," Waltman said. "He was effective offensively but I thought he struggled defensively and he only had one rebound. He's hurting a little bit and it's hard to decide how much to play him." The Sycamores will be back in action at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday at Hulman Center.