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Bulls Fall to Kent State in Quarterfinals of MAC Tournament, 76-67

Roderick Middleton

Buffalo (19-13) took an 8-4 lead in the contest before Kent State rattled off 13 straight points to establish a 17-8 lead with 14:10 left in the first half. The Bulls battled back, and a three-pointer by Calvin Cage (Capitol Heights, MD/Bladensburg) cut the Kent State lead to 24-21. However, the Golden Flashes rattled off nine in a row to take a 33-21 lead. Kent State led at the break, 35-27.

Kent State (23-8) scored the first seven points of the second stanza to go up by 18 points early in the half. The Golden Flashes built its lead to 19 points with 8:30 remaining. On the Bulls’ next possession, Eric Moore (Dover, NJ/St. Benedict’s Prep) hit a three-pointer and on the same play, Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) was fouled away from the ball. After Idbihi knocked down a pair of free throws, the Bulls had quickly cut the lead to 14 points and sparked a furious comeback attempt.

The Bulls would go on to score eight more unanswered points and a pair of Idbihi free throws cut the Kent State advantage to six points with 6:09 remaining. Kevin Warzynski hit a three-pointer on Kent State’s ensuing possession for the Golden Flashes’ first basket in over four minutes. The Bulls whittled the lead down to four with 1:42 remaining. But a three-point attempt by Cage that would have cut the lead to one was off the mark. Kent State was able to convert its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.

Idbihi led the Bulls with 16 points and eight rebounds. Cage and Middleton each notched 15 points. Cage’s scoring effort brought his season total to 592 points – breaking the school record for points in a season.

Kent State was led by Armon Gates who scored a game-high 19 points, including six three-pointers. Jay Youngblood added 12 for the Golden Flashes. The story of the game was rebounding. Kent State outrebouded the Bulls, 42-29. In addition, the Golden Flashes grabbed 16 offensive boards, resulting in 12 second-chance points.

“I think the game came down to what took place around the basket,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “We weren’t sustaining our toughness enough to win the game. There were times when we were able to get stops down the stretch, but we couldn’t come up with the rebound. It left us in a hole.”