Steve Howard, Kevin Holland and Joe Daughrity scored in the clutch Saturday night as De Paul survived some poor play, beat Miami of Florida 66-53 and kept alive its hope for a bid to the NCAA tournament.
De Paul (17-8) led just 50-47 with less than five minutes left when 6-foot guard Daughrity scored six points in a 16-5 surge that assured the Blue Demons the victory in their final road game of the season.
De Paul could finish with a 20-8 record if it sweeps Horizon games against St. John`s, Miami and Notre Dame. The loss dropped Miami to 7-18.
Howard and Holland came off the bench in the first half and led a rally from a nine-point deficit to a 32-31 halftime lead on Holland`s tip-in at the buzzer.
Howard scored 17 points and had 15 rebounds. Teammate Terry Davis topped all scorers with 18 points on a night when David Booth, De Paul`s 20-point star, was limited to four. Guard Jerome Scott led Miami with 15.
Coach Joey Meyer praised Howard for his scoring and rebounding and lauded his team for winning six of its last seven road games.
”I`m pleased to end this road swing winning six of seven, but I`m disappointed we couldn`t win all of them,” said Meyer, referring to Wednesday`s overtime loss at Notre Dame.
”I`m surprised we won on the road when David Booth played as badly as he did. But Howard did a good job, even against the zone. He dominated the defensive boards.”
De Paul`s defense held 6-foot-9 Joe Wylie, who was averaging 19 points, to three baskets in 13 shots and a total of nine points. And the Demons limited the Hurricanes, who were averaging 5.5 three-point baskets per game, to one three-pointer in nine shots.
De Paul played some awful basketball as it fell behind 28-19 with less than four minutes to play in the first half.
Then Howard`s scoring led a charge that cut the Hurricanes` lead to one, and Holland tipped in a miss to beat the buzzer for a 32-31 De Paul lead at intermission.
For most of the first half, the Demons failed to move either the ball or themselves against Miami`s zone defense. De Paul committed 13 turnovers in the half and hit only six of its first 26 shots (26 percent).
Howard scored seven of his 12 first-half points as the Demons rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes of the half. Between them, non-starters Howard (12) and Holland (6) scored more than half the Demons`
points in the half.
Miami played most of the half without Wylie, who got into early foul trouble and had only four points at intermission.
Capitalizing on De Paul turnovers, Miami twice hit the Demons with two runs of 8-0, first to take an 18-12 lead and then to reach the 28-19 high-water mark.
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Next: St. John`s at 2 p.m. Saturday at Horizon.
