Seconds away from a road sweep that would have put Miles in first place in the SIAC West Division race, a buzzer-beater dropped the Golden Bears into the Division's No. 2 seed with two conference games remaining. The Golden Bears downed Central State 65-48 on Thursday night before falling 84-83 in overtime to Kentucky State on Saturday afternoon. Miles (17-5 overall, 13-5 SIAC West) is in a tight three-team race with LeMoyne-Owen (12-4 SIAC) and Tuskegee (11-5 SIAC) but can still take the West by winning its final two conference games at home against Lane and LeMoyne-Owen while getting Tuskegee to drop one of its remaining four conference games.

MILES 65, CENTRAL STATE 48

Playing without injured leading scorer Rodney Battle, Miles used a strong start to the second half to break open a close contest. The Golden Bears held a 28-27 lead at the half but held the Marauders to just one field goal for the first five minutes of the second half to grab control of the contest. Chase Ballard, who replaced Battle in the starting lineup, scored six of his eight points as part of a 14-3 run - which was bookended by 3-pointers from Eddie Smith - to hand Miles a 42-31 advantage at the 15-minute mark.

Central State tried to keep it close, trailing by just eight points with 5:42 remaining. But Mykayle Carter had two decisive offensive plays that put the game on ice. He scored three the hard way after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocked down all three freebies. On the Golden Bears' next possession, he drained a 3-ball that pushed the Miles advantage to 61-45 with four minutes to go. Yasim Hooker polished the victory with an emphatic breakaway slam with a minute left for the final margin.

Smith scored a game-high 20 points, Hooker added 14 points and eight rebounds, and Carter had 11 points and six rebounds to lead the Golden Bears.


KENTUCKY STATE 84, MILES 83 (OT) 

Miles trailed by 18 points in the second half and by 12 with less than four minutes to go but was able to force overtime as Truitt Spencer nailed three clutch free throws with four seconds left. When Carter drained a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left in the extra period, the Golden Bears were up by two and in position to retake control of the SIAC West Division race.

But a 3-pointer as the horn sounded by Kentucky State's Jay Murrell gave the Thorobreds an improbable win, their first over the Golden Bears in almost four years. Murrell made all five of his 3-pointers and scored a game-high 29 points to pace KSU.

The late-game theatrics didn't look like they would be necessary from either side. Miles went almost six-and-a-half minutes with just one basket from the field and KSU exploded, turning a one-point Miles lead into an 18-point Kentucky State advantage with 9:28 left in regulation. A Jalon Andrews dunk had the Thorobreds lead at 68-56 with 4:18 left on the clock in the second half.

The Golden Bears were able to chip away, especially with the clock stopped. They made 10-of-11 free throws over the last four minutes. A 3-pointer by Battle with a minute remaining and a layup by Anthony Latty (12 points, 10 rebounds) cut the Miles deficit to a single point with 30 seconds left in regulation. A technical foul against Battle (16 points) disqualified him from the game with seven seconds left and Montrell Jacobs made two free throws for the 3-point lead before Spencer (nine points, six rebounds) was fouled on his 3-point attempt and hit his freebies to force the extra period.

Miles took the early lead in overtime on a bucket by Smith but the teams went back-and-forth in the extra period with neither leading by more than two points. That was the margin when Carter got his fifth steal of the game on the defensive end before nailing his third 3-ball to put his team ahead. prior to the game-winning shot by Murrell.

Smith led Miles with 23 points and Carter added 17 points and seven rebounds to pace the Golden Bears.

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Miles will host Southeastern Baptist on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.