There have been a lot of seasons in the past where getting to six wins was a chore for the Miles men's basketball program. But over the past two seasons under head coach Fred Watson, the Golden Bears have been getting wins in bunches.

With the Golden Bears 68-58 win over Central State Monday night at Knox-Windham Gymnasium, they have now won six straight contests, the longest such streak for the program since the 2001-02 season when it won seven straight contests. Miles' 14-3 start (9-2 in SIAC Western Division) is the best start in recorded team history, even surpassing the great efforts of the 1994-95 team that finished 21-7 or the 1975-76 Golden Bears who went to the Division III Elite Eight and finished 23-8.

Against the Marauders (9-9, 6-5 SIAC), Miles took a commanding double-digit lead in the first half and controlled the the tempo for most of the second half as CSU only got as close as nine points late in the contest. The only time Central State led was at 6-4, and the Golden Bears quickly took care of that. Jelani Watson-Gayle (13 points, 6 rebounds) drained two 3-pointers and Ryan Calhoun (8 points) knocked down two more as Miles went 5-of-10 from long range in the opening half. The lead reached double digits before the eight-minute mark and got as high as 15 points on a 3-ball from Avery Brown before Miles settled for a 39-25 halftime lead.

After CSU opened the second half with a basket, Miles went on a short burst that was punctuated by a Watson-Gayle 3-pointer, giving the Golden Bears their biggest lead at 46-27 with 14:27 to play. Even as the Marauders tried to make it a game and cut the deficit to 12 points, Miles had the answer. Richard Feagin nailed his own 3-pointer with 7:39 left and the lead was back to 19 points.

Darweshi Hunter (19 points) and Harris Brown (18) were the only double figure scorers for Central State. Brown scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished four assists while Braeden Stewart added 14 points and 8 rebounds for Miles, which hosts Lane on Monday night. Tip time is 7:30 p.m.