Staton-McCray scores 22 and Cleveland 21, but Miami Hurricanes fall by 10 at Louisville to drop to 5-18
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Miami men’s basketball team (5-18, 1-11 ACC) faced an 88-78 setback to the Louisville Cardinals (18-6, 11-2 ACC), Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center.
Redshirt junior A.J. Staton-McCray played his best game in a Miami uniform on Saturday, pouring in 22 points for his fifth career 20-point contest.
Senior Matthew Cleveland recorded his fifth straight 20-point outing with 21 points in the game, marking the third time this season that two Hurricanes have eclipsed the 20-point mark in the same game.
Graduate student Lynn Kidd carded his third double-double of the year with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Cardinals used a 54.1 percent first-half shooting effort to lead by as much as 13 in the first 20 minutes of action, but Staton-McCray kept the Hurricanes in the game with 16 first-half points.
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Cleveland eclipsed the 1,500-point mark in his career on a driving layup at the 2:57 mark in the first half. The guard finished the half with nine points to pull Miami to within eight, 46-38, at the halftime break.
Miami cut the deficit to three, 52-49, five minutes into the second half thanks to back-to-back and-one buckets from Staton-McCray and freshman Divine Ugochukwu. However, the Cardinals responded with an 14-2 run to stretch their lead back to double-figures, 66-51, with 11:33 to play.
The Hurricanes strung together a 16-6 run over the next six minutes to pull to within five, 72-67, at the 6:08 mark of the second half, but Louisville’s Reyne Smith converted a four-point play to put a halt to Miami’s momentum.
Louisville ultimately scored 15 of the final 27 points to secure the 88-78 win.
Miami returns to the Watsco Center on Tuesday to host the Syracuse Orange. Tipoff in Coral Gables, Fla., is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air on ACC Network.
