The Miami basketball team made the game a lot harder than it had to be in a 68-66 victory at Florida Atlantic Tuesday. Miami was playing in Boca Raton for the first time since 2002. Miami blew a 16 point lead in the second half but held on for the win. Isaiah Wong made a layup with six seconds remaining for the winning margin.
Wong scored 18 points to lead Miami. Kameron McGusty teamed with Wong in the backcourt scoring 14 and freshman Wooga Poplar came off the bench to score 12. Miami began the game on a 15-3 run and never trailed. The Hurricanes led 34-20 at halftime. Miami appeared to put the game away leading by 16 in the second half.
Miami went cold as FAU outscored the Hurricanes 27-14 in the last 8:20. Wong came up big down the stretch with six points in the final two minutes. Miami shot 36 percent from the floor, made only two of their 10 three-point attempts, but finished 30-38 from the free-throw line. Getting to the line was the difference.
FAU made only 10 of their 24 free throw attempts. The Owls shot 49 percent from the floor and made six out of 18 three-point attempts. Michael Forrest scored 21 and Alijah Martin 17 to lead the Owls. FAU was even for the only time in the game after a Forrest three-point shot with 16 seconds remaining.
That set up the heroics by Wong. The cold second half by the Miami basketball team was too reminiscent of recent seasons with long offensive stretches not scoring. Forward Sam Waardenburg who entered the game averaging 13 points missed his only shot and did not score.
Poplar scoring 12 was encouraging and critical providing scoring for Miami other than McGusty and Wong. Miami needs more balance as the season goes on. McGusty came over making one of his eight shots from the field by converting 12 of 14 from the free-throw line. Miami hosts Florida A&M on Sunday night.