Miami Hurricanes advance at Wooden Legacy on Zach Johnson Dunk

The Miami Hurricanes advanced to the finals of the Wooden Legacy with a dramatic 78-76 win over Fresno State on Friday afternoon in Fullerton, California.

The win over Fresno State advances the Miami Hurricanes to play the winner of Seton Hall and Hawaii on Sunday night at 10:30 PM ET on ESPN2. Zach Johnson had a putback slam off of a Chris Lykes miss with four-tenths of a second remaining to put the Miami Hurricanes up two and provide the final margin.

Johnson was sensational off the bench for the Miami Hurricanes except for a few missteps late in the game. He played 34 minutes despite coming off the bench. Johnson had his Miami career high with 24 points, two rebounds and three assists. He was 8-16 from the floor and 7-11 from the free throw line.

Johnson missed three of four free throws down the stretch. He also fouled Fresno State’s Deshon Taylor on a three-point attempt with 13 seconds remaining. Taylor made all three free throws to set up Johnson’s game-winning putback slam for the win.

Lykes continues to shine for the Hurricanes. His streak of consecutive 20 point games to begin the season came to an end at three but he supported Johnson with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals.

The game was a back and forth battle of runs. Miami trailed 41-37 at a halftime. The Hurricanes scored the first ten points of the second half to take a six-point lead. Fresno State scored the next seven to regain the lead.

The Hurricanes and Bulldogs went back and forth throughout the remainder of the second half with neither team leading by more than three points after Fresno State regained the lead. Miami’s biggest lead was at 47-41 after the ten-point run to begin the second half. Fresno State’s biggest lead was five in the first half.

D.J. Vasiljevic led Miami with 38 minutes played. He scored 12 points with all of his points coming on four of seven on three-point attempts and five rebounds. Ebuka Izundu had all ten of his points in the first half and added six rebounds before fouling out.

Anthony Lawrence scored all of his seven points in the second half and had five rebounds and three assists. Miami basically went six deep with Sam Waardenburg playing 24 minutes to join the five previously mentioned players. Deng Gak had two points in 12 minutes and Anthony Mack didn’t score in five minutes played.

Miami began the tournament on Thanksgiving Day with a dominating 85-49 victory over LaSalle. An 18-2 Hurricanes run early in the first half turned a 6-4 Miami deficit into a 22-8 lead. The Hurricanes continued to stretch the lead throughout the game. Miami took a 49-18 into halftime.

The closest that LaSalle got in the second half was 26 points. Miami held the Explorers scoreless in the final 4:49 and scored the last eight points to earn the 36 point victory. LaSalle fell to 0-5 with the loss. Miami improved to 4-0 with the win over the Explorers.

The Hurricanes expanded their record to 5-0 after the win over Fresno State. The Bulldogs dropped to 2-2 with the loss. Seton Hall enters Friday night’s game against Hawaii with a 2-2 record. The Rainbow Warriors are 4-1 after a 90-79 victory over Utah on Thanksgiving. Seton Hall defeated Grand Canyon Thursday.