Miles inflicts Paine on Senior Day
Box Score
The men's basketball senior class wanted nothing more than to go out with a bang in their final regular season home contest Saturday afternoon. With a Paine team that entered action winless in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, the perfect foils were served up to do just that.
After a close first 20 minutes, seniors
Shaquille Cook,
Joshua Johnson and
E. Reginald Smalls outscored the Lions by themselves (30-19) in the second half as Miles pummeled Paine 83-50 at Bill Harris Arena. It was the largest margin of victory this season for the Golden Bears (7-18, 7-7 SIAC), who are back to .500 in conference play and puts them back in the driver's seat for the West Division No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, which could mean a rematch with the Lions (2-21, 0-15).
The 50 points were the fewest Miles has allowed since a 56-50 win over Morehouse in 2012. Even more amazingly, this was the first time the Golden Bears on a game by at least 30 points since a 97-65 win over LeMoyne-Owen in 2005 and the largest margin of victory since a 67-34 win over Kentucky State in 2004.
It was quick to see that the seniors were locked in from the opening tip as they scored the first 13 points for the Golden Bears, including 3-pointers by Smalls (18 points, four rebounds, two assists) to open the game and one from
Eric Dansby (five points, two rebounds), which gave Miles the lead for good less than four minutes into the game. Another triple from Smalls, who made half of the team's 10 3-pointers on the afternoon, with just more than two minutes remaining in the first half pushed the lead to double digits for the first time. But the lead was just 36-31 at the half.
Miles quickly took care of business in the second half. Johnson (11 points, five assists) scored seven straight points to give the Golden Bears a 46-35 lead less than three minutes into the second half and the lead would not drop under 10 the rest of the game. Paine would trail 54-42 with 11 minutes to go before Miles went on a backbreaking 15-0 run that eliminated all doubt. Cook (20 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks - all game-highs) was the catalyst, scoring six points during the explosion, including the last four that gave Miles a 69-42 lead.
Henrique Cistrunk only scored three points but he added 10 rebounds and was a big reason why Miles outrebounded Paine 50-27.
Sheldon Wright (12 points) drained two of his four 3-pointers on the final two possessions for the final margin. Everyone scored for the Golden Bears, who play at Tuskegee on Monday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Â
