CLEVELAND — An early 18-point deficit against Miami (Ohio) proved to be too much to

overcome for the University at Buffalo.

UB tried to ride the sizzling second-half shooting of senior guard Sean Smiley, but after

the RedHawks saw their lead shrink to two with just over five minutes left, Miami made its

free throws down the stretch and eliminated the Bulls, 73-59, in the quarterfinals Thursday of

the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Smiley, the senior guard from Erie, Pa., scored all 14 of his points in the second half,

whistling in 4 of 4 from three-point range to nearly propel the Bulls into the semifinals. He

played a huge role in erasing what was once an 18-point Miami lead, drilling four consecutive

treys to cut the lead to two at 56-54 with 5:50 left. But Miami scored seven consecutive

points, including a conventional three-point play by Antonio Ballard, to make it 61-54 with

3:02 left.

Calvin Betts answered with a conventional three-point play with 2:38 remaining to make it

61-57. Then Miami made eight consecutive free throws to put away the game.

"Our goal was to win the MAC after last year's loss against Akron, all through the summer

and during the workouts in the fall," Smiley said.

The No. 4 seed RedHawks (14-17) advance to the semifinals tonight at 9 p.m. They'll play

No. 9 seed Ohio (19-14) at Quicken Loans Arena.

"As they made shots, it really tightened the noose around our guys on the offensive end,"

UB coach Reggie Witherspoon said.

Senior guard Rodney Pierce, a first-team All-MAC

selection the last two seasons, scored 12 points but shot 5 of 18 from the floor and misfired

on both of his three-point attempts. Miami was led by guard Kenny Hayes with 27 points while

forward Julian Mavunga had 16 points for the RedHawks. Miami shot 22 of 38 overall from the

floor and 22 of 30 from the free-throw line.

"This is my last shot at this," said Hayes, who played 38 minutes and made 11 of 12 free

throws. "I don't get another chance at this."

The early-round ouster is a major disappointment for UB, which returned four starters from

last year's 21-12 team that was crowned the MAC's regular season co-champions. That team

advanced to the finals of the league tournament but lost to Akron for the right to represent

the MAC in the NCAA Tournament.

"Of course we wanted to win the MAC championship," a disappointed Pierce said. "I really

don't know what else to say."

The Bulls had won seven of nine coming into the tournament, but their 73-62 loss at Miami

on March 4 was a sign of things to come.

The RedHawks took a 14-point lead to start the second half Thursday before the Bulls

climbed back into the game by finally solving Miami's defense. Smiley cut the lead to 48-43 at

9:51 with a trey and added another with 8:19 remaining to make it 54-48. But after a miss by

Hayes, Nick Winbush followed and Miami's lead was back up to eight.

The RedHawks came out blazing to start the game. The Bulls scored the game's first field

goal on a three-pointer from the left wing by John Boyer but Miami scored the game's next 17

consecutive points. The run was capped by a four-point play by Rodney Haddix II, who drained a

three-pointer as he was being fouled.

Miami was aggressively overplaying everything on the perimeter, forcing the Bulls guard to

take contested shots.

Miami led by as much as 18 with 5:56 left in the half before it cooled off and UB finally

began making shots. But Hayes ended the half with a pull-up jumper over Boyer from 17 and the

RedHawks took a 32-21 lead at the half.

Hayes carried his play over into the second half and UB's season came to a close.