Bulls Advance to MAC Championship with 64-52 win over Ball State

Buffalo will play in MAC Championship for second time in school history

Max Boudreau

CLEVELAND, OH - The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team advanced to the Mid-American Conference championship game with a 64-52 win over second-seeded Ball State in the semifinals on Friday night at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. Buffalo will play Akron at 8:oo pm on Saturday night.

The Bulls were led by Max Boudreau who scored a career-high 21 points and added five rebounds. The junior from Montreal was averaging 5.3 points per game on the season and his previous career high was 14 points before shooting 8-of-10 from the field on Friday night.

Rodney Pierce also had a big game for the Bulls with 18 points and hit a number of key jumpers with the shot clock running low to help the Bulls preserve their lead.

After leading by four points at the half, the Bulls rode the hot hand of Boudreau to extend their lead to 47-39 with 7:58 left. Boudreau scored nine straight points for UB to spark the run. A Pierce three-pointer followed by a beautiful give-and-go that resulted in a Jawaan Alston layup gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game at 52-38 with 6:16 left.

The Cardinals threaten late and cut the Buffalo lead to 57-50 with 2:20 remaining. But on Ball State’s next possession, Pierce came up with a steal and fed Boudreau for a break-away dunk that sealed the win for the Bulls.

Freshman Mitchell Watt had another big night for the Bulls, finishing with 10 points and four rebounds in 19 minutes.

For the second night in a row the Bulls dominated the glass, outrebounding Ball State, 36-23. The difference in the game was offensive rebounding. The Bulls pulled down 12 offensive boards and scored 16 second chance points compared to a Ball State squad that was held to nine offensive rebounds and six second chance points.

Rodney Pierce

Andy Robinson led the Bulls with six rebounds and Calvin Betts added five.

“We established ourselves in the paint,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “Our guys were better this time when we played them. They challenged us and our guys were up for the challenge. They came at us pretty good and we had to play defense.”

Buffalo will have a chance to become the first team in Mid-American Conference history to win both the football and men’s basketball championship in the same year when it faces Akron on Saturday night at 8:00 pm. The game will be televised on ESPN2.