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Robert Hite's career-high 26 points helped carry Miami past Florida Atlantic 76-51 on Saturday night, giving the Hurricanes their 31st win in their last 35 games against instate competition.
Eric Wilkins had 11 for Miami (8-3), which only got nine from standout forward Darius Rice -- nearly nine below his average.
Pierre Tucker had 11 points and Jeff Hamilton had 10 for Florida Atlantic (4-4), which lost to Miami for the 16th time in 17 meetings and shot only 28.8 percent for the game.
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A 16-3 first-half run gave the Hurricanes a 24-11 lead, but Florida Atlantic
closed to within 33-26 by halftime.
Rice missed his first seven shots; his first field goal, a 3-pointer with 18:11 left, pushed Miami's lead to 41-29 and helped fuel a 23-8 run which gave the Hurricanes a 59-37 lead with 9:46 remaining. Freshman guard Guillermo Diaz scored eight of his nine points and Miami's defense forced nine Florida Atlantic turnovers during that run, which saw the Owls go scoreless for the final 3:58.
Hite then helped seal the win by scoring all 11 of his points in a 3:31 stretch, pushing the margin to 70-45 with 4:16 remaining.