Miami (Fla.) 84, Texas Southern 69: James Kelly led six Hurricanes in double figures with 17 points off the bench as the Hurricanes capped a three-game, season-opening homestand with an easy victory.
Donnavan Kirk scored 15 points, Rion Brown had 13, Manu Lecomte added 12 and Davon Reed and Garrius Adams chipped in 11 and 10, respectively, for the Hurricanes (2-1), who will visit the College of Charleston on Friday for their first road game. Miami shot 50.7 percent from the field.
Aaric Murray had 16 points and Ray Penn scored 15 for the Tigers (2-1), who were coming off a victory over Wiley College on Monday. Jose Rodriguez added 11 points and Lawrence Johnson-Danner had 10 for Texas Southern, which was 11-for-22 from 3-point range but had just 13 assists.
Texas Southern opened the game on 12-0 run, which was capped by Murray's 3-pointer with 14:13 left in the first half. The Hurricanes then went on a 17-4 spurt to take their first lead of the game, 17-16, on Tonye Jekiri's layup with 8:43 to go in the half.
Miami went on to shoot 8-for-13 from beyond the arc to take a 44-32 lead at halftime, its largest of the game at that point. Kelly and Reed, both reserves, combined to shoot 5-of-6 from 3-point range to help the Hurricanes grab that 12-point edge.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Hurricanes, who went 0-for-15 from beyond the arc in their season-opening loss to St. Francis (N.Y.), finished 10-for-20 from long range against the Tigers. ... Texas Southern entered play Thursday in the top 10 nationally in three categories -- scoring (104 points per game), assists (24 per game) and field-goal percentage (56.8). ... The teams were facing each other for the first time.
Texas Southern | Miami-Florida | |
Aaric Murray 16 | Scoring | James Kelly 17 |
Ray Penn 4 | Assists | Rion Brown 9 |
D'Angelo Scott 9 | Rebounds | Rion Brown 11 |
Aaric Murray 3 | Free Throws Made | Manu Lecomte 2 |
Aaric Murray 2 | Steals | Garrius Adams 3 |
Aaric Murray 2 | Blocks | Donnavan Kirk 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Texas Southern | 69 | 42.6 | 11-22 | 12-17 | 13 | 27 | 2 | 3 | 16 |
Miami-Florida | 84 | 50.7 | 10-20 | 4-6 | 21 | 39 | 4 | 12 | 9 |