Larkin Scores Career-High 27 in 73-57 Win

November 16, 2012

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -Shane Larkin scored 21 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to lead the Miami to a 73-57 win over Jacksonville on Friday.

Julian Gamble scored 13 points and Trey McKinney-Jones chipped in 11 for Miami (2-1), which bounced back after losing 63-51 to Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday.

Larkin hit 9 of 13 shots from the floor with five assists and four rebounds. His previous high was 18 points on Jan. 2 against UNC-Greensboro.

Miami shot 59 percent (23 for 39) while holding Jacksonville to 40 percent shooting (20 for 50).

Miami played without leading scorer Reggie Johnson due to a sore tailbone and suited up eight scholarship players.

Miami scored the game’s first 11 points before Jacksonville (1-2) responded with the next eight. The first half remained close throughout as Miami took a 27-23 lead into the break.

Jacksonville pulled within 31-29 on a layup by Jarvis Haywood before Miami went on a 9-1 run keyed by Larkin, who made a layup and a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 40-30.

Jacksonville cut the deficit to 42-36 with 11:40 left but was unable to get any closer. Miami took control of the game over the next four minutes as Larkin scored eight of Miami’s next 12 points.

After making just 9 of 17 from the free-throw line in the first half, Miami knocked down 14 of 18 in the second half to prevent the lead from slipping away.

Dylan Fritsch came off the bench to lead Jacksonville with 23 points, including six 3-pointers.

Jacksonville made just 10 of 20 free throws and had 16 turnovers.

Game Notes

The starters for the Hurricanes were Shane Larkin, Trey McKinney Jones, Rion Brown, Kenny Kadji and Julian Gamble.

Shane Larkin set a new career high in points scored with 27. His previous high was 18, set on Jan. 2, 2012 at UNCG.

Shane Larkin has scored in double digits in each of the first three games this season.

Julian Gamble made his first start since Feb. 26, 2011 at Florida State.

Julian Gamble tied his career high for points scored (13) on a dunk with 10:22 remaining in the second half.

This was the first game of the year that Miami has led at the half (27-23).

Miami has shot better than 50 percent in each of its two wins, shooting 52.5 percent against Stetson and 59.0 percent against Jacksonville.

Erik Swoope saw 16 minutes of action against JU. The last time Swoope played more than 14 minutes was against Memphis on Dec. 6, 2011, when he played 15. He went 3-of-3 from the field with a pair of steals, two rebounds and an assist.

Walk-on freshman Steve Sorenson made his first appearance in a Miami uniform.

Reggie Johnson didn’t dress for the game due to a lower extremity injury.

Season tickets, mini-plans and non-coference single-game tickets are on sale now, and can be purchase at CanesTix.com or by calling the BankUnited Center Ticket Office at 305.284.2263. The ticket office is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.