MEN'S BASKETBALL

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

AKRON, OH - The University at Buffalo men's basketball team was milliseconds away from their first-ever road victory in the Mid-American Conference.

It took just that long for Akron's Rashon Brown to break Buffalo's heart as he went half the length of the floor in the last 4.1 seconds to bank in the game-winner as the buzzer sounded to lift the Zips to a 78-77 win over Buffalo in Mid-American Conference action on Saturday night.

The last-second shot spoiled an incredible effort by the shorthanded and road-weary Bulls (2-16, 0-10 in the MAC), who battled the resurgent Zips (9-10, 6-4) shot for shot in the James A. Rhodes Arena where Akron is now 38-10 since the 1997-98 season.

Buffalo, who led 40-31 at halftime, held off Akron for most of the second half until the final four minutes, then looked like they had the game won in the final five seconds. The Bulls never trailed until Emmanuel Smith scored on a layup with 3:43 remaining to give Akron a 68-66 lead. The Bulls would tie the game up twice before falling behind 76-71 with 1:51 remaining.

Just when all looked lost, junior Robert Brown (Oak Park, MI/Oak Park) scored on a fast break layup and then hit one of two free throws to cut the Akron lead to 76-74 with :42 left. Senior Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) - who hit 5-of-9 three pointers en route to 17 points - then blocked an Akron shot to get the ball back for Buffalo. After running the clock down inside ten seconds, senior Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) drove the lane before feeding Jason Robinson (Seattle, WA/Curtis) in the right corner who buried a three- pointer with 4.1 seconds left to give Buffalo the lead 77-76 and an apparent win.

However, Brown caught an inbounds pass near half-court then dribbled to the basket before banking in a five-foot floater as the horn sounded.

"The guys are hurt because they fought and scrapped," said UB coach Reggie Witherspoon afterwards, "but the kid made a great play at the end. He got too deep in the lane and was able to score. We can't let this loss crush us. We've got to take the effort and execution we showed and continue to move forward."

The Bulls may have played their finest half of the season to take a 40-31 lead to intermission. Both Robinson and Foster scored 11 points and the Bulls hit 8-of-15 three-point shots to open up a 40-22 lead at one point before Akron rallied with nine straight points to close the half.

Robinson finished the game with 19 points for Buffalo, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. Brown had 13 points and eight rebounds while junior Clement Smith (Brooklyn, NY/Westinghouse) had six points and eight rebounds before dislocating his left shoulder and leaving the game. Junior Davis Lawrence (New York, NY/New Utrecht) added 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals for Buffalo.

For the game, UB hit 14-of-28 three-point shots, the second most trifectas made in a game by a Bulls' team. As a team Buffalo shot 45.5% from the field and outrebounded the Zips, 37-30.