Bulls Fall to Wichita State in Opening Round of CBI

Shockers shoot 60 percent to defeat UB, 84-73

Rodney Pierce

WICHITA, KS - The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team fell to a red-hot Wichita State squad, 84-73, in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational at Charles Koch Arena on Wednesday night. The Shockers shot 60 percent from the field to bring an end to the Bulls’ season.

Buffalo played in front of a frenzied crowd of 6,647 fans - the largest road crowd the Bulls faced all season. The electric audience helped the home team jump out to a 14-3 lead and never looked back. Rodney Pierce, who had a game-high 17 points, hit a jumper to cut the Shockers’ lead to 21-14 with 11:22 left in the half. However, Wichita State mounted a 17-6 scoring run to gain a 38-20 advantage. Wichita State led 45-29 at the break.

The Bulls tried to chip away at the lead in the second half, but couldn’t string together more than four unanswered points due to the hot shooting of the Shockers. Wichita State shot 68 percent from the field in the second half to pull away for the victory.

Senior Greg Gamble, playing in the final game of his career, finished with 12 points and six assists. Max Boudreau continued his stellar play in the postseason with 12 points, a team-high six rebounds and a career-best three steals.

All five starters scored in double-figures for the Shockers who will advance to play Stanford in the second round.

“We didn’t have any energy tonight,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “We were a step late on everything. The way they shot it, you couldn’t be a step late.”

Buffalo finished the season 21-12. The 21 wins were the second most in school history and the Bulls advanced to the postseason for only the second time in school history. UB will return 12 players when it takes the floor in November.