 BUFFALO 111, BUFFALO STATE 59
Mitchell Watt tied a career high and led all scorers with 22 points. The senior forward also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. The Bulls dominated the glass as they pulled down 68 rebounds, the sixth-best single-game effort in school history.
Zach Filzen scored 16 points, including four three-pointers. Dave Barnett added 14 points and eight rebounds.
The lopsided victory afforded head coach Reggie Witherspoon the opportunity to give his bench extended minutes and the reserves responded with a combined 50 points.
Auraum Nuiriankh had 12 points and eight rebounds, both career highs. Corey Raley-Ross had a season-high 12 points and added six rebounds and four assists. Titus Robinson contributed 12 points and five rebounds in only 14 minutes. Cameron Downing had career highs of six points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
The Bulls never trailed in the game as they jumped out to an 18-2 lead and never looked back. UB led 29-16 before mounting an 18-1 scoring run to take a 47-19 advantage. The Bulls led 51-27 at the break.
Buffalo shot 48.1 percent from the field to have its streak of games shooting over 50 percent snapped at three. But the Bulls grabbed 28 offensive rebounds and scored 33 second-chance points.
The 111 points tied for the fourth highest scoring output in school history.
“We got a lot of guys some minutes tonight, and I think some of those guys gave a pretty good effort,” Witherspoon said. “I thought our man-to-man defense was pretty good. We haven’t played extended minutes of it and I think tonight we got a chance to do that. We needed to have another game, that’s for sure. This was just our third game in three weeks.”
Buffalo will host Kent State on Saturday night in its Mid-American Conference opener. The game tips off at 7:00 pm at Alumni Arena.
Courtesy of Buffalo Athletics |
