 Photo: Nate Thompson
The Bulls (21-10, 11-5) led for the entire second half to advance to their first tournament final since 2005. UB controlled the Cardinals' (14-17, 7-9) interior combo of Jarrod Jones and Malik Perry, holding them to 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field.
"They're a very physical team," Jones said. "They did a good job pulling our post out to the perimeter."
Buffalo outscored Ball State 30-24 in the paint, 16-6 in second chance points, and 31-6 in bench points. They also grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and outrebounded BSU 36-23. This is in contrast to their only regular season meeting, a 53-31 BSU victory in Muncie in which the Cardinals outmuscled the Bulls inside.
"We just wanted to step up our intensity," Watt said. "When you come out flat like we did the first time, you get banged up. We definitely banged back a little bit, made their guards hesitate to throw down low."
In addition to their superior performance inside, Rodney Pierce scored 18 points, dished 3 assists and notched 2 steals for the Bulls.
UB, which is now 15-0 when leading at halftime, held a 29-25 advantage at the intermission. Only 9 total fouls were called in the first half. The referees tightened the game up in the second half, whistling 27 times.
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Max Boudreau (40) had a game-high 21 points.
Photo: Nate Thompson |
No Buffalo player logged more than 3 fouls, but Malik Perry and Rob Giles were in foul trouble for much of the second half for Ball State, with Perry fouling out with 5:45 left. Their foul trouble put more pressure on Jones and Laron Frazier.
"It made it easier for them to get into their traps, because they didn't have to worry about Malik," Jones said.
After a Pierce jumper extended Buffalo's lead to 31-25, a 5-0 spurt for the Cardinals brought them to within a point. UB answered with a 7-0 run, during which the Bulls collected four offensive rebounds. A Frazier jumper made the game 43-38 with 10:38 left, but Buffalo went on a 9-0 run to put the game away.
BSU coach Billy Taylor played Maurice Hubbard, who averages 16.9 minutes per game, 23 minutes in an attempt to field a bigger lineup to get more rebounds. Pierre Sneed, who averages 15 minutes a game, played 2.
"I thought the first game we did a much better job of controlling the backboards," he said.
There was a brief scary moment for Bulls fans when Boudreau was inadvertently clotheslined by Randy Davis late in the game.
"As I said to the ref, I'm a hockey player," Boudreau said. "I played hockey for 15 years. I'm fine."
Buffalo will play the winner of the Akron/Bowling Green semifinal Saturday at 8 p.m. Witherspoon, who coached the Bulls when they lost the 2005 final in overtime to Ohio, said his team will be relaxed.
"We can't stress too much, 'it's the finals,'" he said. "We just have to go out and play."
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