Men’s Basketball
Kevin Pittsnogle and D’or Fischer each scored 19 points and West Virginia knocked Miami out of the Big East Tournament with a 58-53 win on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes (14-16, 4-12 Big East) trailed for most of the game until Robert Hite’s dunk with 5:54 left capped a 12-3 run and gave Miami a 51-48 lead.
After Johannes Herber’s 3-pointer tied it again, a running jumper shot by Darius Rice put Miami ahead 53-51 with 2:54 remaining, but the Hurricanes would fail to score for the rest of the game.
West Virginia (15-12, 7-9) hit two quick lay-ups and a free throw to take back the lead before Rice missed a deep 3-pointer that would have tied the game with 14 seconds remaining. Patrick Beilein secured the win with a pair of free throws.
West Virginia easily out shot the cold-handed Hurricanes, hitting 52.4 percent from the field while Miami shot 36.8 percent. Rice scored 16 points but was the only Miami player in double figures.
Tyrone Salled added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.
The loss hands the Hurricanes their second straight 4-12 season in the Big East and the disappointing season could be the last for embattled coach Perry Clark, who has three years remaining on his current contract.
Women’s Track
The 13th-ranked University of Miami women’s track and field team won four events at the Fast Times Meet in Gainesville, Fla.
The competition is the final tune-up prior to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 12-13, in Fayetteville, Ark.
Junior All-American Lauryn Williams finished first in the 55-meters with a time of 6.89 seconds. Williams, who ranks fourth in the nation in the 60-meters and sixth in the nation in the 200-meters, has already automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in both events.
Freshman phenom Tabia Charles remained undefeated this season in the triple jump winning Saturday with a NCAA Automatic qualifying mark of 13.30 meters. Charles, the 2004 Big East Champion in the long jump and triple jump, improves to 4-0 in triple jump competition.
Charles currently ranks third in the nation in the triple jump and earlier this season broke her own Canadian Junior record with a mark of 13.53 meters.
Freshman Brenda Faluade was also impressive winning the long jump with a leap of 6.17 meters.
Also recording a win on Saturday was sophomore All-American Dominique Darden who finished first in the 200-meters with a time of 24.30. Freshman Ginou Etienne finished second in the 400-meters with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 53.89 seconds
Women’s Tennis
The 21st-ranked University of Miami women’s tennis team swept all three doubles matches as well as all six singles matches to overtake in-state rival South Florida, 7-0 Friday afternoon in Tampa, Fla. to improve to 6-1 on the season.
The Hurricanes opened the match winning the doubles point with Mari Toro and Audrey Banada edging out Yuri Kurashima and Luisa Obando, 9-7 at No. 3 doubles, Megan Bradley and Melissa Applebaum winning at the No. 2 spot over USF’s Gabriela Duch and Marie F. Lord Andrade, 8-3 and UM’s duo of Sihem Bennacer and Sara Robbins defeating Patricia Kolendo and Talia Romero, 8-5 at the No. 2 position.
Miami’s momentum carried into singles play with Bradley winning at the No. 1 slot over Duch, 7-5, 6-4, Applebaum downing Lord Andrade, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2, Toro winning at No. 3 over Kolendo, 6-2, 6-2, Banada defeating Obando, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4, Stevens blanking Kurashima, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 and Bennacer upending Romero, 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 6 position.
-Compiled by the sports information department.