No. 20 Miami (Ohio) drops MAC opener, the first loss for D-I's last undefeated men's team

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CLEVELAND (AP) — No. 20 Miami (Ohio) dropped its Mid-American Conference Tournament opener to UMass 87-83 on Thursday, spoiling the last perfect record in Division I men’s basketball.

Daniel Hankins-Sanford made a tiebreaking layup with 29 seconds remaining, and the Minutemen escaped with victory in a quarterfinal game that had 12 lead changes and 10 ties.

The RedHawks (31-1) were the fifth men’s Division I program this century to go undefeated during the regular season. Now it’s the second to get tripped up in its conference tournament. St. Joseph’s lost to Xavier in the 2004 Atlantic 10 quarterfinals but was still a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Miami was the first squad since Gonzaga in 2020-21 to not have a loss going into a conference tournament.

The RedHawks had eight one-possession games during the regular season, including their last three coming into the MAC Tournament.

There were some doubts about the RedHawks earning an at-large berth. Those quieted after a win over Ohio last Friday but might perk up again after this.

After Hankins-Sanford's layup, Miami's Luke Skaljac made a bad pass and turned the ball over to Marcus Banks, who made two free throws to make it a two-possession game.

Brant Byers was fouled on a 3-point attempt but made only two of three free throws. Banks iced the game with another pair of free throws with 8 seconds left.

Leonardo Bettiol led UMass (17-15) with 25 points while Banks added 18 and Jayden Ndjigue 16.

Byers led Miami with 17 points, and Eian Elmer added 16.

Miami had a 69-58 lead with 8:11 remaining before UMass rallied back with a 13-2 run. Ndjigue had six points, including a 3-pointer to tie it at 71.

UMass faces fourth-seeded Toledo (18-14) in Friday’s conference tournament semifinals.

Miami (Ohio) awaits its postseason fate.

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