Chaz Williams leads UMass over Miami (Ohio)

Updated: Jan 4, 2014, 11:28 pm

AMHERST, Mass. -- No. 23 Massachusetts was outrebounded and committed 16 turnovers. And it still managed to get a win on Saturday night.

So while he was happy with the result, coach Derek Kellogg is looking for more from his Minutemen.

Chaz Williams had 18 points and eight assists, leading Massachusetts to a 73-65 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Saturday night.

"We didn't play with energy across the board," Kellogg said. "We'll have to play better in the conference."

Maxie Esho added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Minutemen (12-1), who host Saint Joseph's on Wednesday in their Atlantic-10 opener. Cady Lalanne had 12 points and Trey Davis finished with 11.

Williams agreed that something was missing despite the win. "We're supposed to come out with intensity," he said.

Kellogg was particularly unhappy with the Minutemen's 34-27 rebounding deficit.

"To get outrebounded by anybody is not a good thing at this point," he said. "Our bigs are supposed to be our strength."

Will Felder scored 22 points for Miami (4-7), which went 1-for-14 from 3-point range. Geovonie McKnight had 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Miami coach John Cooper wasn't pleased with his team's 18 turnovers and the poor shooting results from long range. But he did think his team competed well and praised its effort on the boards.

"Last year, they crushed us on the boards," he said. "As for the 3s, I thought a lot of those shots were good looks. We also missed a lot of layups early."

Davis made two straight 3-pointers to help Massachusetts open a 36-27 lead in the first half. But Felder had a layup at the buzzer as Miami closed to 36-32 at the break.

Felder and McKnight had 10 points apiece in the first half.

The Minutemen used their press to pull away from Miami in the second half. Esho's driving three-point play made it 49-38 with 11:26 left.

Miami scored only six points in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Back-to-back hoops by Oswald got Miami within 51-44 but Williams had a big 3-pointer and a key steal that helped UMass run the lead back out to 61-50 with 3:57 left.

The Minutemen were plagued by turnovers early on, but played solid defense and then began plugging away inside with Lalanne. Williams started to get out on the break and his second three-point play put UMass up 20-12 with 8:43 left in the first half.