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Bulls Fall to Miami, 81-74

Greg Gamble

Buffalo (15-7, 5-6 MAC) trailed, 26-21, at the half. Backdoor layups and uncontested layups via length-of-the-court passes helped Miami turn its five-point halftime advantage into a 41-27 lead with 13:57 remaining. Yet another layup by Tim Pollitz gave the RedHawks their largest lead of the game at 53-34 with 9:22 left in the game.

Trailing, 68-50, with 5:04 remaining, the Bulls refused to give up. UB mounted a 10-1 run, capped by a Roderick Middleton (University Park, IL/Marian Catholic) three-pointer, to cut the Miami advantage to nine points with 2:56 remaining. A layup by Sean Smiley (Erie, PA/McDowell) cut the lead to 77-71 with 30 seconds remaining. However, that would be as close as the Bulls would get as Miami was able to convert its free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Buffalo was led by Calvin Cage (Capitol Heights, MD/Bladensburg) who scored 20 points, including three three-pointers. Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine), who made his second start of the season, added 12 points and four rebounds.

The Bulls did get a spark from a pair of youngsters as Smiley and Greg Gamble (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) each notched career-highs in points. Smiley scored 10 points and Gamble tallied 13 points and tied Middleton for team-high honors in rebounding with six.

Miami (12-8, 9-3 MAC) was led by Nathan Peavy who notched a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Pollitz added 20 points and William Hatcher totaled 14 points and 11 assists.

The RedHawks, who shot a sizzling 61.2 percent from the field, dominated the interior play as they scored 73 of their 81 points either in the paint or at the free throw line. In addition, Miami outrebounded the Bulls, 42-30.

On a positive note, the Bulls, who struggled in recent games with turnovers, committed a season-low eight turnovers against Miami.

"Our effort level didn't give us a chance at all tonight," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We didn't have enough energy to compete tonight with this team and they deserved to win and we obviously didn't."

The Bulls will try to right the ship on Tuesday night when they play at Ball State. Tip off is slated for 7:00 pm.