Miles and Morehouse are two of the favorites in the hunt for this season's SIAC title and both squads played Monday night with the intensity of a championship-caliber matchup. But in the end, Miles showed its team depth, getting a double-double from Makai Vassell to down the Maroon Tigers 70-62 at Knox-Windham Gymnasium.

The Maroon Tigers came out firing from outside, led by the hot shooting of Andrew Stewart. He drilled five 3-pointers in the first half, many of them contested and from long range, to keep his team close. Morehouse (3-2, 0-1 SIAC East) did all it could to keep Rodney Battle, who came into the game averaging more than 20 points per outing, from getting any looks at the basket. But running multiple defenders at the Golden Bears' leading scorer left others open, and they took advantage. Mykayle Carter had 10 points at the half and Vassell added seven, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, that gave Miles (6-0, 2-0 SIAC West) a 31-25 lead going into the break.

The Golden Bears actually led for most of the game but did not get the lead into double figures until Vassell got out on the break and slammed one home to give Miles a 39-29 lead with 16:03 left. Stewart kept firing away for Morehouse and he had a banner night, scoring 29 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 6-of-13 from beyond the 3-point arc. But Miles came up with a response on multiple occasions. Vassell knocked down a 3-pointer and then, on Miles' next possession, he took his own miss and put it back in to push the lead to 53-42 with just more than eight minutes left. He finished with 20 points, five assists, and 16 rebounds as Miles held a 51-36 edge on the boards.

The Maroon Tigers were able to cut the deficit to four points with just less than two minutes to play. But buckets by Carter and Truitt Spencer (six points) on consecutive possessions put the game out of reach, leading the Golden Bears to their sixth straight win.

Elijah Stewart (10 points) was the only other double-digit scorer for Morehouse. Carter had 16 points, four rebounds and two steals, Battle had eight points, four rebounds and four assists, while Anthony Latty had four points and 11 rebounds for Miles, which travels to play Edward Waters on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.