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Late Charge Lifts Ohio Past Buffalo, 67-51

Darwin Young

Buffalo (9-8, 1-3 MAC) was led by Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) who scored 11 points and Andy Robinson (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) who added 10.

It was a defensive struggle early on as the Bulls held Ohio to only seven points over the first 11 minutes of the game. Unfortunately, UB was unable to take advantage of the Bobcats’ miscues as it scored only 11 points over the same span. The Bulls built their lead to as many as nine points on a jumper by Greg Gamble (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls). However, Ohio closed the half on an 11-2 scoring run to tie the contest at 24 at the break.

Robinson scored the Bulls’ first eight points of the second half, including a pair of three-pointers. His jumper with 15:16 remaining gave UB its final lead of the night, 32-31. After Ohio built a five-point lead, its largest of the game to that point, Darwin Young (Buffalo, NY/Hutch Tech) drained his career-best third three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to 40-38 with 10:18 left. Young finished with a season-high nine points. A Vadim Fedotov (Munich, Germany/Schloss Hagerhof) lay-up cut the deficit to four with 4:37 remaining.

With the Bulls trailing, 56-48, Idbihi hit a jumper to cut the lead to six with 3:27 left. But that would be as close as the Bulls would get as the Bobcats closed the game on an 11-1 run to pull away for the win.

Buffalo was held to 33.9 percent shooting - its second lowest effort of the season. The Bulls outrebounded Ohio, 34-32. Gamble led UB with eight rebounds.

All five Ohio starters scored in double-figures, led by Leon Williams who had 13 points and 12 rebounds.

“We weren’t aggressive and we didn’t move the ball quick enough,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon. “They played very good defense.”

The Bulls will remain on the road and play at Akron on Sunday. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 pm.