“We get up 11 or so, and I thought we really had a chance to take another step, maybe take it to 14 or maybe even take it more than that,” Thorpe said. “But then we had two straight turnovers, which led to two baskets by them. That changed the momentum, a little bit, for them. As opposed to us being up by 15 at half, now it’s a seven-point game.”
Early in the second half, after a jumper by Ronaldo Segu (21 points) opened UB’s lead to 42-33, the RedHawks and Bulls were a combined 0 for 9 from the floor in the next 1:50.
Then, the RedHawks chipped UB’s 11-point lead to one, at 48-47, on Williams’ layup just before the five-minute mark, and tied the game at 50-50 on a 3-pointer by Mekhi Lairy (28 points) six minutes into the half.
Precious Ayah’s layup with 7:17 left gave Miami a 66-64 lead, the Redhawks’ first lead since the midway point of the first half. But with less than three minutes left and UB ahead 75-73 after Mballa’s putback, Dalonte Brown hit the first of three 3-pointers for the Redhawks, which helped them open their lead to 82-77 with 80 seconds left.
“In the second half, I just think we were very passive,” Thorpe said. “I didn’t think we came out aggressive. We told our guys, ‘we really want to pick it up and play aggressive, and go after them a little bit,’ and we almost played not to win. I thought that hurt us.”