Malik Reneau scored 18 of his game-high 24 points and Tru Washington had 12 of his 17 as Miami advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinal with a 79-73 win over Louisville in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Reneau and Washington carried Miami offensively, with Tre Donaldson scoring one point in the second half.
Donaldson led Miami with 13 of his 14 points in the first half as Louisville took a 38-37 halftime lead. With more than a third of the first half points for Miami, Donaldson made six of his 12 field goal attempts, one out of four three-point shots and had one rebound and two assists.
Donaldson missed all three of his second-half field goal attempts, his only three-point shot and made one out of two free throws. Donaldson did not score in the second half until he split two free throws with 35 seconds left to extend the Miami lead to 74-70.
Miami finished 19-29 from the free-throw line to help keep Louisville in the game. Reneau and Washington each made a pair of free throws in the final minute to help Miami ice the win. Reneau made five out of nine from the field and seven out of eight from the free throw line in the second half.
Washington provides spark off the bench
Washington scored all 17 of the bench points for Miami on five out of 12 from the field, made two out of three three-point shots and five of six from the free throw line with a rebound, two assists and a steal. In the second half Washington shot 4-9 from the field, made his one three-point shot and had all of his free throw attempts.
Washington had one of the biggest shots of the game when his three-pointer extended the Miami lead to 69-64. Shelton Henderson scored nine and Ernest Udeh Jr. each scored seven to contribute to Miami offensively. Henderson helped Miami seal the win in the final seconds.
With Miami leading 76-71, Henderson blocked a shot by Ryan Conwell and gathered the loose ball to go in for an uncontested dunk to essentially ice the victory. Sananda Fru had a layup at the buzzer for Louisville to provide the final margin. Miami plays Virginia tomorrow in the ACC Tournament semifinals at 7:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.