Aron Stewart was nearly perfect and Nathan Sheffield was hot and clutch from downtown as Miles defeated Paine 74-64 Saturday afternoon at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. The win was the first in conference play and at home for the Golden Bears (2-8, 1-2 SIAC) and second straight overall.

Stewart scored a career-high 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting. His only misses were from the free throw line, where he was 4-of-6. Sheffield also set a career-high for points scored (17) and 3-pointers made (five), the last of which broke a 63-all tie that gave Miles the lead for good.

Stewart knocked down consecutive jumpers to open the game but Miles found itself behind early. But three consecutive 3-pointers - two by Sheldon Wright (eight points, four assists), one by Carl Garcia (five points, six rebounds, four assists) - gave the Golden Bears a 15-11 advantage. Stewart then moved his game to a more familiar position...above the rim. Consecutive, rim-rattling dunks, combined with a 3-pointer from Sheffield, tied the game at 26 with 7:20 left in the first half.

Paine (2-10, 1-4) would open a 36-27 lead with just more than four minutes left in the first half. But a late surge that included three straight buckets from Jeffrey Dockett (14 points) and two more jumpers from Stewart cut the Miles deficit to 38-37 at halftime. The Sheffield and Stewart show continued at the start of the second half as the former's layup put Miles back in the lead and the latter's thunderous dunk got the crowd on its feet as the Golden Bears opened a 43-40 advantage inside the first three minutes.

Trailing 46-43, the Golden Bears put together their best stretch of the contest. Highlighted by two more Sheffield threes and punctuated with a layup by Dockett, Miles used a 14-0 run over the next five minutes to grab its biggest lead of the game, 57-46. But that good run of ball was followed by an ugly phase. Miles would miss seven of its next eight shots from the field and Paine took advantage. A layup by Ronzell Evans (seven points, 11 rebounds) with four minutes left tied the game at 63.

But that would be the last basket made by the Lions. After Sheffield grabbed a miss from Wright, the ball found its way back to him and he drained his third 3-pointer of the half with 2:48 left to give Miles the lead for good. While Stewart did not miss from the field the entire game, Sheffield enjoyed a flawless second half, making all four of his attempts from the field and both free throws.

Babe Murphy had a team-high 15 points and Deshawndric Nelms and Johnnie Robinson each had 12 points for Paine. Damian Archer had eight points and a game-high five assists for Miles, which plays at Claflin on Jan. 4 with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m.