MEN'S BASKETBALL

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

Buffalo Clips Bowling Green, 76-73

Roderick Middleton

The Bulls were led by the senior backcourt of Calvin Cage (Capitol Heights, MD/Bladensburg) and Roderick Middleton (University Park, IL/Marian Catholic). Cage eclipsed the 20-point barrier for the third straight game with a team-high 24 points. Middleton had one of the finest all-around games of his career with 14 points, a career-high 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

After struggling in the opening stages of recent games, Buffalo (14-4, 4-3 MAC) took control of Tuesday night's game early. With the game tied at 20 and 6:43 left in the first half, the Bulls mounted an 18-4 scoring run to take a 38-24 lead at the break. UB shot a sizzling 65.2 percent from the floor in the first stanza.

Parnell Smith (Indianapolis, IN/Pike), back in the lineup after missing four games with an injury, hit a jumper with 16:40 remaining to extend the UB lead to 47-30. A pair of Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine) free throws gave the Bulls a 15-point lead with 15:02 left. However, over the next two minutes, the Falcons mounted a furious 13-0 run that closed the UB advantage to 53-51.

The Bulls survived the Bowling Green run and countered with an 8-0 run of their own to reestablish a 10-point lead with 10:14 remaining. A pair of Cage free throws with 1:32 remaining gave the Bulls a seven-point advantage and seemingly put the game on ice. However, on the Falcons' ensuing possession, Jordan was called for an intentional and a technical foul. After Bowling Green made four straight free throws, it was quickly a three-point game.

Cage hit a free throw to extend the UB lead to 74-70 with 18 seconds remaining. The Falcons answered with a three-pointer by Martin Samarco to cut the lead to 74-73 with 10 seconds left. After Cage hit two more free throws, Samarco's three-point attempt, as time expired, hit the back iron allowing the Bulls to hold on for the victory.

The Bulls dominated the glass, outrebounding the Falcons, 35-20. UB had 11 steals and forced 22 Bowling Green turnovers.

Buffalo got a nice spark off the bench from Andy Robinson (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) who scored a career-high 10 points and added four rebounds, an assist and two steals in a career-best 32 minutes. Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) also scored in double-figures with 15 points to go along with five rebounds.

Bowling Green (7-10, 3-4 MAC) was led by Samarco who scored 30 points. Mawel Soler added 19 points for the Falcons.

The battle of the two best three-point shooters in the Mid-American Conference went to Samarco. The MAC's top three-point shooter finished with six three-pointers while Cage, ranked second in the MAC, drained five triples.

The Bulls will return home to host Ohio on Thursday night. Tip-off is slated for 8:00 pm.