OXFORD, Ohio — Peter Suder scored 19 points, Antwone Woolfolk added 14 and No. 19 Miami (Ohio) closed within a victory of a perfect regular season with a 74-72 win over Toledo on Tuesday night that extended the RedHawks’ season-opening winning streak to 30 games.
The RedHawks (17-0 Mid-American Conference) remain the only undefeated team in Division I men’s basketball. They’re just the fourth team in the last 35 years to start 30-0, joining 2013-14 Wichita State, 2014-15 Kentucky and 2020-21 Gonzaga.
With the victory, Miami claimed its first MAC regular season title since 2004-05, extended the best start in program history and added to its school record for wins in a season. Miami also boasts the best start and longest win streak in MAC annals.
Brant Byers added 13 points and Luke Skaljac chipped in 12 for the RedHawks, who extended their home winning streak to 31- games in front of a sellout crowd of 10,640 at Millett Hall. That home mark matches Duke for the longest in the nation.
Leroy Blyden Jr. led Toledo (16-4, 10-7) with 21 points and Sonny Wilson added 13.
Miami was coming off a 69-67 win over Western Kentucky on Friday night, when they needed a buzzer beater from freshman Trey Perry. In this game, the RedHawks jumped out to an early double-digit lead against the Rockets (16-14, 10-7) and never trailed.
Toledo cut the deficit to one on four occasions and looked as though it would take the lead on an Austin Parks drive to the basket with nine minutes remaining, but Miami’s Eian Elmer stuffed him at the rim and hit a 3-pointer a few seconds later to push the lead back to four points.
The Rockets trailed by two points and had the ball with 13 seconds remaining, but but turned the ball over with less than a second to play. It was the RedHawks’ seventh game decided by three points or fewer, tied for the most to keep a perfect season alive since 1948-49.
The victory gave the RedHawks their first season sweep of Toledo since the 1996-97 season, and it ran their series winning streak to three in a row overall after losing 22 straight from 2012-24.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
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