Saint Mary-of-the-Woods was in position to notch its first ever River States Conference men's basketball victory Saturday afternoon in the Knoerle Center, but visiting Midway secured a 71-66 win to improve to 6-4 overall, 3-1 in the RSC.
The Pomeroys (3-6, 0-3) trailed most of the first half, but they were able to take a 49-48 lead with a 7-2 spurt ignited by an alley-oop slam tossed by Tarik Dixon and finished by Davin Miller. Dixon finished off the strong stretch with a 3-point play with 12:25 to go.
Midway regained a one-point lead and didn't give the lead back the final 9:04. The Pomeroys remained within striking distance until the final minute.
Dakota Sampson returned from injury to hit one of his two 3-pointers and Dixon knotted the score at 58 with 5:39 remaining. Dixon found Miller for another emphatic alley-oop finish with 5:02 left to cut the SMWC deficit to 61-60.
The Pomeroys strung together several defensive stops over the next 2 ½ minutes, but they were unable to capitalize at the offensive end. Dixon missed a pair of free throws and Keith Germain came up empty on a 3-point attempt.
Donnie Miller, who finished with a game-high 24 points, connected for a 3-pointer with 2:12 remaining to stretch the Eagles lead to 68-62, essentially sinking SMWC's hopes.
SMWC held Midway to 43 percent shooting in the second half after the Eagles put up 41 points on 58-percent accuracy in the opening 20 minutes.
Dixon led the way for SMWC with 16 points and six assists. Elkin Ramirez continued to shoot the ball well to post 14 points, hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Germain had 13 points, including a pair of dunks. Miller had eight points and seven boards.
SMWC finished just 10 turnovers after averaging 29 over the past three games. Coach Mike Hunter praised his team's ability to take care of the ball despite being without guard Aaron Collins due to injury.
But he'd like to see more consistent play at the defensive end. 
"We have to be better defensively," Hunter said.

CLIMBING THE RANKINGS
Germain had two more blocked shots and ranks second in the RSC and 26th in NAIA with 1.9 blocks per game.
Germain's 9.1 rebounds per game ranks 32nd in NAIA and No. 2 in the RSC. 

UP NEXT
The Pomeroys face No. 5 Marian on the road Monday night.
"They've got several Division I transfers and it's going to be a big challenge," Hunter said. 


 
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