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Daniel Gilbert

BUFFALO, NY ­ Buffalo, playing its first game without leading scorer and team captain Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth), fought valiantly, but fell to Ball State, 80-68, at Alumni Arena on Saturday night. The Bulls shot a solid 51 percent (25-49) from the floor, but 21 turnovers and nine missed free throws spelled UB's demise.

"Turnovers and our ineptness at the free throw line kept us from winning the game," Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon said.

UB jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, but the Cardinals responded and held the lead for much of the first half, including a seven-point advantage with 1:43 left in the first stanza. The Bulls closed the half on a 6-2 scoring run, capped by a Jason Bird (Ypsilanti, MI/Ypsilanti) three-pointer in the final seconds, to cut the lead to 28-25.

Buffalo opened the second half on a 4-0 run to regain the lead, 29-28. Ball State answered with a 9-2 run to take control of the game. The Bulls kept chipping away, but couldn't get the defensive stops they needed to overtake the Cardinals. A three-pointer by Calvin Cage (Bowie, MD/Bladensburg) brought the Bulls to within four points with 5:46 remaining. However, UB would get no closer as the teams traded buckets down the stretch and the Cardinals pulled away for the victory. Both teams shot the ball extremely well in the second half as Ball State shot 66.7 percent (20-30) and Buffalo shot 62.5 percent (15-24).

"In the second half we just got really tentative," Witherspoon said of the Bulls' defensive effort. "When you're playing against guys of that caliber, if you get a little bit tentative, they're going to smell blood."

The Bulls were led by Daniel Gilbert (Detroit, MI/Cass Technical) who scored 14 points. Freshman Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine) notched a career-high 12 points, including three three-pointers. B.J. Walker (Cincinnati, OH/Mt. Healthy) also reached double-figures with 11 points and added five rebounds. Davis Lawrence (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) did a very serviceable job starting in place of Battle. The senior guard had five points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 29 minutes of action.

Chris Williams, the conference's leading scorer, dropped a very quiet 20 points on 5-for-16 shooting. However, the senior guard did go 10-for-12 from the free throw line. Cameron Echols was the Cardinals' leading scorer with 22 points. He was tough to stop as he shot 11-for-14 from the floor. Robert Owens and Matt McCollom also reached double-figures with 19 and 14 points, respectively.