'Dons Come From Behind in Homecoming Thriller

Saturday, December 1

Fort Wayne, Ind.

7 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

5-4

Miami (Ohio)

3-3

Miami (Ohio)

IPFW

Photo by: Lucas Carter

'Dons Come From Behind in Homecoming Thriller

12/1/2012 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (.pdf) | BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Trailing by as many 14 in the second half, the IPFW Mastodons rallied, holding Miami (Ohio) without a field goal for a seven-minute span, and capped off the comeback with a Mario Hines lay-in with two seconds on the clock to claim a 57-56 homecoming victory on Saturday evening in front of a loud crowd of 3,033.

Joe Edwards led the team with 10 points, as the balanced effort saw three players - Frank Gaines, Mario Hines, and Michael Kibiloski - scored nine, Kevin harden had eight, and Isaiah McCray seven. Hines pulled down a team-best seven rebounds, with Pierre Bland giving out three assists.

The crowd was the largest at home for IPFW since 4,059 fans packed the Memorial Coliseum for senior night of the 2010-11 season.

Miami (3-3) jumped out to a 7-2 lead early on, and never trailed in the first half, leading by as many as 14 with 5:08 to play in the first half, as the 14-point margin came as the RedHawks capped off an 11-0 run. IPFW (5-4) cut the gap to 10 by scoring the last four points of the half, heading into the locker room down 32-22.

The RedHawks pushed the lead back to 14 with 15:45 to play in the game; however, the visitors would not hit another field goal for the next seven minutes, as the Mastodons used a 12-0 run to close to within one, and tied the game on a Kibiloski three with 5:43 to play in the game.

IPFW took its first lead of the game when Gaines hit a baseline jumper with 3:29 to play, and IPFW's lead grew to as many as three with 1:10 to play, but four straight free throws over two possessions by the visitors gave Miami a one-point lead with 24 seconds to play.

With two seconds left in the game, Kibiloski found Hines wide open with an inbounds pass, and Hines found the bottom of the net for the IPFW win, as Will Felder's attempt from halfcourt with a second left found only the backboard, securing IPFW's one-point win.

IPFW out-rebounded Miami 32-to-28, as each team had four blocked shots - two by Hines for IPFW. Gaines had three steals to lead the team. IPFW hit 21-of-50 shots from the field (42 percent), and 5-of-15 (33.3%) from long range, and 10-of-21 (47.6%) from the charity stripe.

IPFW out-scored Miami 30-to-24 in the paint, and 29-to-9 on bench points. Miami was led by Will Felder, who had game-highs with 15 points and eight rebounds, as Allen Roberts scored 11.

The Mastodons return to action on Wednesday, December 5 when the team travels to face off against the Valparaiso Crusaders in an 8 p.m. tip-off.

~ Feel the Rumble ~