Miami basketball men and women win season openers
The Miami basketball team began the 2022-23 season with a hard-fought 67-54 win over Lafayette. Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong led the way with 16 points as Miami pulled away late in the second half. Arkansas State transfer Norchad Omier led Miami with 15 rebounds and scored 11 points.
Lafayette led Miami 30-28 at halftime. A 9-0 Miami run in the middle of the second half broke a 43-all tie. The closest Lafayette got the rest of the way was four points. Miami struggled shooting all night. Miami finished 21-58 from the floor, 10-34 on threes and 13-22 from the free throw line. Lafeyette was 19-52,10-34 and 6-16.
Lafayette was led by point guard C.J. Fulton who scored 17 points and had four rebounds and four assists. Fulton led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio last season. The biggest edges for the Miami basketball in the game were free throws, nine turnovers to 14 for Lafayette and a 46-34 rebounding advantage.
The Miami women won their season opener 83-51 over Maryland Eastern Shore. Destiny Harden picked up where she left off in March scoring 13 points and leading Miami with 10 rebounds. Ja’Leah Williams led Miami with 14 points. Haley and Hana Cavinder did not make huge impacts in their Miami debuts.
Haley scored nine points on 3 – 6 from the floor, all three-point field goal attempts and added four rebounds. Hana who is more of a distributor finished with eight points, two rebounds and two assists. Miami was playing without head coach Katie Meier who is suspended for the first three games of the season.
Miami will host North Carolina-Greensboro on Friday night. The Hornets won their season opener on Monday 93-60 over Johnson and Wales. The women will resume play on Thursday when they host Stetson for Elementry School Day. UNC-Greensboro was picked to finish third in the Southern Conference preseason vote.
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Miami hoisted a banner honoring the run to the Midwest Regional Final before the game. The Hurricanes have an opportunity to make another deep NCAA Tournament run. Miami was picked to finish fourth in the ACC preseason vote. Wong was named preseason first-team All-ACC and runner up for Player of the Year.