After dealing with some recent slow starts, the Miles men's basketball team wasted very little time in taking control of its regular season-ending contest against Lane Monday night.

The Golden Bears scored the first 12 points of the game, led by as many as 17 points early in the contest, and played just one possession in the second half with less than a double-digit lead en route to a 58-43 win over the Dragons at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. While Miles finished tied atop the SIAC Western Division standings, the Golden Bears (20-6, 15-5) will be the No. 2 seed from the West for next week's 2023 TIAA SIAC Basketball Championships presented by Cricket.

The run started innocently enough as Rodney Battle scored and was fouled. His free throw gave Miles a 3-0 lead. Eddie Smith would connect on 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to increase the lead to nine points. On the Golden Bears' ensuing possession, Battle completed the run with his own 3-ball to close the opening barrage just 3:13 into the contest.
 
Lane (14-12, 12-8) continued to miss badly, failing to convert on its first eight shots from the field while also clanging both its free throw attempts. The Dragons finally got on the board at the 15:18 mark but Miles continued to dominate. Consecutive baskets by Anthony Latty and Yasim Hooker (both with six points, five rebounds) gave Miles a 24-7 advantage with 8:38 left in the first half. Lane would close to within 10 points late but Miles - which shot 52 percent in the opening 20 minutes - scored the final seven points of the half, with Todd Burt (six points, two steals) closing the period with a 3-pointer that sent the Golden Bears into the locker room with a 36-19 lead.

Miles played the majority of the second half with at least a 10 point lead, answering any offensive aggression from Lane with some cool play of its own. Chase Ballard, who has been getting big minutes at the lead guard spot, had five of his game-high seven assists in the second half. Two of them came on nice feeds inside to Latty, who powered them home with two hands for a 46-32 lead with 14 minutes remaining. The Dragons would use an 8-0 run pull to within nine points with 1:52 left. But Smith (game-high 16 points) and Battle (14 points, six rebounds, three assists) would hit six free throws down the stretch to put the game on ice.

Kelvin Allen had a team-high 15 points to lead Lane. Corey Trotter added eight points and five rebounds off the bench for Miles.