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Buffalo Drops Road Contest at Bowling Green

Andrew Atman

Thursday marked the Bulls’ first game without starting center Vadim Fedotov (Munich, Germany/Schloss Hagerhof) who was lost for the season with a knee injury. Andrew Atman (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) made his first start of the season and responded with 11 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals in 22 minutes.

Atman scored the Bulls’ first four points and gave UB its last lead of the game at 4-2. Bowling Green, which shot 53.8 percent for the game from the field, used stifling defense to force 25 UB turnovers – its highest total in 10 games. The Falcons were able to convert those turnovers into 26 points.

Bowling Green (7-8, 2-1 MAC) built a 43-26 lead at the half. The Bulls managed to whittle the lead down to 11 when Rodney Pierce (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) hit a jumper and was fouled. His free throw made the score 47-36 with 15:51 remaining. However, the Falcons scored back-to-back conventional three-point plays to quickly regain a 17-point advantage.

Greg Gamble (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls), who had a season-high five assists, found a cutting Atman for a layup that cut the lead to 66-52 with 5:23 left. But Joe Jakubowski answered for the Falcons with a trey to silence the UB threat.

Atman shared high-scoring honors with Andy Robinson (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) who also netted 11 points. Calvin Betts (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) also reached double-digits with 10 points and team-high seven rebounds.

Max Boudreau (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain St. Lambert) , who will also be leaned on to produce more with the loss of Fedotov, tallied nine points and two rebounds in 13 minutes.

Byron Mulkey (Wheatfield, NY/Niagara Wheatfield) scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and Gamble added eight points.

Buffalo (6-9, 0-3 MAC) dominated the glass, outrebounding the Falcons, 43-32. Buffalo pulled down 21 offensive rebounds, but could only manage 15 second chance points.

“Bowling Green was very wide in their zone and it caused a lot of problems for us,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “I didn’t expect us to turn the ball over as much as we did. When you turn it over that much, your opponent has a chance to get out and run.”

The Bulls will remain on the road and play at Miami (OH) on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 pm.