The Canes took the floor at the Watsco Center Tuesday night against Stephen F. Austin, last season’s Southland Conference champions, in their second non-conference matchup of the season. Miami was hoping to build off of the momentum from their 83-62 win over Lehigh last Friday, and did exactly that by sending the Lumberjacks packing with a 96-58 victory to improve the Canes’ record to 2-0.
Early on both teams traded baskets until the Canes went on a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 24-10 halfway through the first period. Dejan Vasiljevic hit 3 straight from behind the arc to spark the offense, but Anthony Lawrence II and Ebuka Izundu also came out hot, with Lawrence dropping a team-best 13 points in the first half and Izundu completing a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds before the break.