After nearly watching Kentucky State erase a double-digit deficit in the second half, Miles got some clutch buckets late to hold on for a 73-69 win Monday night at Knox-Windham Gymnasium between two of the top teams in the SIAC West race. The win was the seventh straight for the Golden Bears (13-3, 9-2 SIAC West), who have now won five straight against the Thorobreds (9-5, 8-3).

The first half saw four ties and seven lead changes but the Golden Bears, who were down by as many as five points in the opening half, led 33-32 at the break. But Miles used a big five-minute spurt to grab control of the contest. The Golden Bears forced KSU to miss 4-of-5 shots and caused a turnover to keep the Thorobreds off the scoreboard. Meanwhile, Yasim Hooker (nine points), Rodney Battle and Truitt Spencer (six points, five assists) each scored to spark a 14-2 run, which ended with a bucket from Corey Trotter to give Miles a 52-39 lead with 12:39 remaining.

The lead was still at 12 points when Chase Ballard (seven points) drained a 3-pointer with 8:36 left and Miles looked as if would cruise to victory. But Kentucky State had other plans. The Thorobreds held Miles without a field goal for the next five minutes and big 3-pointers from Montrell Jacobs and Brandon Hill cut the deficit to 63-62 with just less than four minutes left.

Kentucky State, though, would never get the lead. Makai Vassell got going late, scoring on a tip-in to break the field goal drought, then flushed a feed from Anthony Latty (six points, 11 rebounds, three assists) for a big dunk before adding a short jumper to push the Miles advantage back to 68-63 with 1:08 left. Jacobs stroked his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 40 seconds left to cut the Golden Bears' lead to two points but Battle hit a short floater in the lane as the shot clock expired with nine seconds left to seal the win.

Jacobs scored 17 points, Shamon Mosely had 14 points and Kong Kong added 10 points to lead Kentucky State. Vassell had a game-high 19 points while Battle added 18 points, five assists and four rebounds to pace the Golden Bears, who host Central State on Wednesday. Tip time is 7:30 p.m.