Brown Leads 'Canes Past North Carolina Central

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CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Freshman Rion Brown scored 17 points as Miami took an 88-65 victory over North Carolina Central on Friday night.

The Hurricanes (2-1), who rebounded from their first loss of the season at No. 19 Memphis on Monday, never trailed and broke the game open with 12 unanswered points early in the second half.

Brown, Garrius Adams and Adrian Thomas each hit 3-pointers during the run and Raphael Akpejiori‘s three-point play with 12:43 remaining capped the run for a 64-39 Miamilead.

Miamishot 10 of 22 from 3-point range.

Brown picked up the scoring load for the Hurricanes’ leading scorers, guards Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott, who were averaging 20 points per game. Grant had eight points and Scott scored three, while playing intentionally limited minutes on Friday after averaging more than 30 minutes apiece over the opening two games.

Reggie Johnson had his second-straight double-double of the week, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Hurricanes.

C.J. Wilkerson led the Eagles (1-2) with 27 points.

Brown scored the first seven points of a 10-2 run and helped Miami build a 23-14 lead with 12:34 left in the first half.

The Hurricanes took their first double-digit lead on Johnson’s three-point play with 4:49 left for a 35-23 advantage.

Although the Eagles stayed within range after Landon Clement’s 3-pointer with 2:09 left cut the Miami lead to 38-31, the Hurricanes closed the first half with five unanswered points.

Johnson’s hook shot with 29 seconds left gave the Hurricanes a 43-31 halftime lead.

Miami defeated North Carolina Central for the third consecutive time after the teams began their series in 2008-09.

Brown Displays Scoring Prowess
Freshman guard Rion Brown had his best shooting night of his young career, scoring a career-high 17 points off the bench against the Eagles. Brown, whose previous high of three points came against Jacksonville in the season-opener, finished the game shooting 5-of-9 from the field, 2-of-5 from behind the arc and 5-of-6 from the line. Brown’s 17 points tied him with Duke’s Seth Curry for the third-highest scoring total by an ACC player of the bench this season. C.J. Leslie of NC State scored a conference-best 21 points off the bench against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 12.

Double-double at the Half
Sophomore center Reggie Johnson recorded a rare double-double in just one half of play Friday, recording 10 points and 10 rebound in the first period. Johnson shot 3-of-4 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line before the break. The double-double was the second of his career and the second in as many games after tallying 12 points and 12 rebounds Tuesday at Memphis. He finished with game with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

Grant Extends Streak
Junior guard Malcolm Grant extended his consecutive games with a three-pointer streak to 10, hitting on 3-of-6 from behind the arc. Grant’s streak is the second-longest active streak in the ACC behind Florida State’s Deivdas Dulkys, who has hit a three in 13 straight games.

Bench Press
Miami’s bench poured in 50 of the Hurricanes’ 88 points Friday night, led by 17 points from Rion Brown and 10 points from Garrius Adams.

Free Throws
The `Canes shot 80 percent from the free throw line, sinking 20-of-25 attempts on the night. Rion Brown (5-for-6) and Reggie Johnson (4-for-5) led the way as seven `Canes hit from the charity stripe.

Kirk Makes First Start
Freshman forward Donnavan Kirk made his first career start Friday night and finished with six points and four rebounds.

Series Update
The `Canes are now 3-0 all-time against North Carolina Central, outscoring the Eagles 247-to-160 in the series.