CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami junior guard Kameron McGusty scored 22 of his career-high 28 points in the second half to lead the Miami Hurricanes to a wire-to-wire 91-60 victory over Coppin State on Saturday afternoon at the Watsco Center.
The Hurricanes (8-3) have won four consecutive games against non-conference foes, and next begin a 19-game run in the tough ACC.
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DJ Vaslijevic, who entered with the highest 3-point field goal percentage in the ACC, only converted 3-of-11, but finished with 21 points for Miami. Vasiljevic and Sam Waardenburg combined to score 19 points on a game-opening 19-3 lead and Coppin State never recovered. The closest the Eagles (4-9) would come was 21-13 as they dropped their third straight.
The Hurricanes received a rare offensive boost from Waardenburg, who surpassed his season points average in the first half with 8 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, maing two from 3-point range. Waardenburg finished with a career-high 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Giir Ring led Coppin State with 13 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough to prevent the Eagles from falling to 2-4 during an eight-game road trip.
Leading 34-20 at halftime, McGusty caught fire, draining three consecutive 3-pointers and scoring 14 of Miami’s points during a 22-6 run to begin the second half. From there, Chris Lykes poured in three 3-pointers and notched 11 of his 16 points during an 11-5 run and a 78-42 lead.
Miami shot 47% from 3-point range (18-of-38) to Coppin State’s 23% (7-of-30). Coppin State is 0-8 when outshot from 3-point territory.
Miami jumped out to a 9-0 lead as Coppin State missed its first nine shots and 14 of its first 15 attempts. The Eagles finally scored 5:27 into the game on Andrew Robinson’s 3-pointer.
Sparked by the 3-point marksmanship of Vasiljevic and Waardenburg, Miami reeled off another 10-0 run and led 19-3 midway through the first half.
Led by Dejuan Clayton, the Eagles went on a mini 7-0 run to slice Miami’s advantage to 21-13. That would be the closest the Eagles would come as McGusty scored six during Miami’s 12-0 spurt to pull away 33-14 for Miami largest lead before ending the half up 34-20.