Tre Donaldson scored 17 points and Malik Reneau added 14 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 22 Miami beat short-handed SMU 77-69 on Wednesday in a late-season Atlantic Coast Conference clash at Dallas.
The win guaranteed Miami (24-6, 13-4 ACC) a third-place finish in the conference standings and a double bye in the upcoming league tournament. The Hurricanes tied the school record for regular-season victories.
The Hurricanes led by seven points at halftime and quickly doubled the margin in the first two minutes of the second half.
A Shelton Henderson pullup jumper with 14:37 to go pushed Miami’s advantage to 53-37 before the Mustangs trimmed the deficit to nine points on a pair of free throws by Samet Yigitoglu with 11:05 remaining.
Miami rebuilt the margin to 16 points via a 7-0 run punctuated by two free throws from Donaldson. SMU did not quit, drawing within 71-64 with 36.6 seconds left after Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 10 straight Mustangs points, but the Hurricanes held on to win their third straight game and seventh in their past eight contests.
Tru Washington added 15 points for Miami while Noam Dovrat scored 12 and Henderson had 11. Ernest Udeh Jr. grabbed 10 rebounds.
Pierre led all scorers with 27 points, 25 of them in the second half. Boopie Miller contributed 21 for SMU, which played without star guard B.J. Edwards (ankle).
The loss keeps the Mustangs (19-11, 8-9) in a logjam at the middle of the league standings, with a move up to eighth still a possibility if SMU can beat Florida State in its final regular-season game. The teams seeded No. 5 through No. 9 earn a bye to the second round of the ACC tournament.
The Hurricanes never trailed, building an 18-13 lead when Henderson poured in a 3-pointer. SMU answered, tying the game at 23 on a pair of free throws by Miller before Miami regained the front by way of a 10-4 spurt that was capped by Washington’s tip-in layup.
Miami finished the first half on a flourish as Reneau had a layup before Dovrat canned a jumper from beyond the arc with four seconds left to push the Hurricanes’ advantage to 38-31 at the break.
Miller led all scorers with 14 points before halftime while Reneau and Dovrat paced the Hurricanes with nine points each.
–Field Level Media
