First Four: Miami (Ohio) advances to face Tennessee; Dontae Horne, Prairie View sinks Lehigh

After Miami (Ohio) lost to UMass in the Mid-American Conference tournament quarterfinal, many questioned whether the RedHawks deserved a spot in the NCAA Tournament, even though that was their only loss of the season.

A bid to the First Four in hand, the RedHawks didn’t take the opportunity for granted, advancing to the first round with an 89-79 victory over SMU on Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio.

Miami (Ohio)’s Eian Elmer, Luke Sklajac and Brant Byers led the way, combining to score 59 points and knocking down 16 total 3-pointers. Up next, the 11-seeded RedHawks will face the No. 6 seed Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC on Friday afternoon in Philadelphia.

“We more than belong,” Miami (Ohio) coach Travis Steele on the postgame broadcast. “We can advance deep in this tournament. Our group’s fully confident in that.”

The RedHawks and Mustangs exchanged baskets early on in an up-tempo game with a raucous crowd at UD Arena. However, the RedHawks’ trio of Elmer, Sklajac and Byers created confidence by knocking down 3-pointers that SMU just couldn’t match. That, paired with a crowd that had to travel just 34 miles to Dayton and included some students wearing Speedos, was too much for the Mustangs to overcome.

Said Elmer after the game: “I feel like we brought Millett Hall to Dayton.”

Andy Enfield doesn’t seem amused 😅 pic.twitter.com/uwaiph2aqk

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 19, 2026

The RedHawks won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1999, when Wally Szczerbiak was a RedHawk.

Elmer finished with 23 points (6-of-9 from 3-point range), Byers had 19 (4-of-9 from 3) and Skaljac chipped in 17 (3-of-5 3FG). Almar Orri Atlason added 12 points. Jaden Toombs led SMU with 20 points, while Jarron Pierre Jr. (18), Boopie Miller (15) and Corey Washington (13) also reached double figures. The Mustangs played without B.J. Miller, the team’s second-leading scorer, who injured his ankle earlier this season but was held out of Wednesday’s contest “out of an abundance of caution.”

SMU’s problem wasn’t scoring; it was keeping up with Miami (Ohio)’s shooting from beyond the 3-point line. The RedHawks set an NCAA record for a First Four game with 41 3-point attempts. And even when the Mustangs closed to within two points, Miami (Ohio) made smart plays during pivotal points to hold its lead and continue surging.

The RedHawks connected on a barrage of 3-pointers to go ahead 43-34 at the half, and by early second half, the trio of Elmer, Skaljac and Byers had 38 of the RedHawks’ 47 points. Still, SMU continued clawing its way back into the game, taking a 49-48 lead with 14:15 remaining.

Yet, Peter Suder, the MAC Player of the Year, who was held to just seven points, knocked in a triple to help the RedHawks quickly regain the lead. They continued the onslaught with back-to-back 3-pointers to push their lead back to eight points in roughly 90 seconds. Later, Mustangs 7-foot-1 center Samet Yigitoglu picked up his fourth foul and eventually fouled out.

Following Yigitoglu’s fourth foul, the RedHawks scored on a jump hook in the paint, and Skaljac followed that with a 3-pointer that gave them a 14-point lead and brought their crowd to their feet.

Pierre did his best to keep the Mustangs in it, but it was just Miami (Ohio)’s night to shine, and they proved they belong in the national tournament.

Prairie View A&M earns first NCAA Tournament win in program history

Prairie View A&M locked up its first NCAA Tournament win in program history with a defensive clampdown of Lehigh, 67-55, on Wednesday night’s First Four to earn a first-round matchup with the Florida Gators on Friday.

With 6:22 remaining, Prairie View A&M’s defensive stop against the Mountain Hawks changed the game’s momentum. Lehigh threw the ball to big man Hank Alvey, but he fumbled it. While the Mountain Hawks recovered, the scramble and continued pressure from the Panthers eventually forced Lehigh into a shot clock violation.

That defensive intensity, paired with Prairie View A&M’s Dontae Horn leading the Panthers’ offensive charge, changed between the two halves. And it led to the Panthers to extend their winning streak to eight games.

Horn scored 25 points, all in the second half, helping the Panthers set the tone in the opening four minutes after the break. Meanwhile, Lehigh struggled to be the aggressor it had been in building a 29-27 halftime lead. And when Horn wasn’t scoring in the second half, Cory Wells was. He produced a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double and tacked on three steals and three blocks.

The Panthers, who held the Mountain Hawks 18 points under their scoring average, limited Lehigh’s dynamic leading scorer Nasir Whitlock to just five points on 2-of-15 from the field. He was held scoreless in the first half. Alvey, Lehigh’s leading scorer and dominant presence in the paint, tallied 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds on an efficient 8-of-13 night, but was the Mountain Hawks’ lone double-figure scorer.

The Panthers started quickly as Wells and Horne created nifty ways to score, but the Mountain Hawks stayed close as the teams exchanged baskets early on. Lehigh jumped out to a seven-point advantage midway through the first half, its biggest lead in the first 20 minutes.

Alvey’s presence inside broke down Prairie View’s zone defense, and the Panthers didn’t have an answer for Alvey when he caught the ball at the free-throw line and took various defenders in the paint for two points. The Mountain Hawks also had seven second-chance points, while the Panthers didn’t register any.

Yet, Lehigh couldn’t pull away from Prairie View as the Panthers kept Whitlock in check in the first half (0-for-8 from the field, 0-for-2 from 3-point range).

Prairie View A&M set the tone in the second half with offensive rebounding and defense, two things it didn’t do well in the first half. The Panthers used a three-quarters-court light press to speed up the Mountain Hawks and throw their offense out of sync. Prairie View’s ability to control the tempo kept Lehigh from dumping it in the post to Alvey as Whitlock remained out of rhythm.

The Panthers grabbed a five-point lead in the opening 2:55 in the second half and turned up the heat. Wells, after a Lehigh miss, scored a bucket on the Panthers’ ensuing possession with just under 9 minutes remaining, and Prairie View’s defense continued to swarm Alvey in the paint to force other Mountain Hawk players to get involved. Lehigh made enough shots to stay in reach, but never altered the momentum as the Panthers continued making plays.

With just two minutes remaining, after Alvey made 1-of-2 free throws, Lehigh turned to its full-court press, came up with a steal and found Whitlock for a corner three, but it clanked off the rim. On the next Prairie View possession, Wells scored an acrobatic layup to extend the Panthers’ lead to 64-51 with just over a minute to play, locking up their trip to Tampa, Fla.