CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Bethune-Cookman Head coach Ryan Ridder was looking for his team to put together more solid play against a Power 5 opponent after slowly improving against DePaul and Marquette last week. He got that and more as the Miami Hurricanes came from behind (3-0) to fend off the Wildcats (2-3) for a 78-70 victory Saturday afternoon.
Chris Lykes' two free throws with 2:19 remaining gave the Hurricanes the lead for good at 69-67. Anthony Lawrence, DJ Vasiljevic and Lykes hit 3-pointers in the final two minutes.
"Full credit to Bethune Cookman and how they came out," Vasiljevic said. "They played with a lot of energy. They jumped on us and made things difficult. But for me and Chris to come down the stretch and get the crowd into it and then hit those big shots, it's what college basketball is all about."
The Wildcats rallied from a 10-point deficit early in the second half and took a 50-48 lead on Wali Parks' basket with 9:16 remaining. Miami built a 67-61 lead on Lawrence's two free throws with 4:21 before BCU ran off six unanswered points capped by Malik Maitland's two free throws with 2:38 left.
"I thought we were tough, I thought we were gritty," Ridder said. "Having the opportunity to come in and play a top-25 caliber program, I thought we competed the right way. Proud of our guys' effort, just fell short in those last four minutes or so."
Maitland scored a game-high 29 points for the Wildcats. He shot 11 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 7 from behind the arc.
"You really have to give a lot of credit to Bethune Cookman, their players and their coaches for coming in here and playing as well as they did," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. "Maitland was absolutely terrific."
BCU twice built seven-point leads in the first half. Houston Smith's layup with 4:04 remaining gave the Wildcats their second seven-point advantage before the Hurricanes finished the half on an 11-4 run.
Lykes shot 1 of 6 from the field in the first half and his shooting struggles reflected Miami's woes as it shot a collective 28 percent. But the Hurricanes rebounded with 53 percent shooting in the second half.
The Wildcats consider the opportunities of playing ACC opponent Miami and Big East schools Marquette and DePaul early in the season as valuable experiences for their conference schedule and post season.
"We challenge our guys to get better each game," Ridder said. "We put together good 12 minutes at DePaul and about 20 minutes at Marquette. For our guys, five straight games, we can say we found a way to get better. If that trend continues, hopefully we'll be playing our best basketball in March."
BCU returns to Historic Moore Gym to begin a three-game homestand with Nebraska-Omaha on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
