 BUFFALO 82, AKRON 70
The win evened Buffalo’s record at 2-2 in Mid-American Conference play and improved the Bulls to 9-6 overall. Akron, meanwhile, dropped to 3-1 in league play and is now 11-7 overall.
Zach Filzen shook off his recent scoring woes to drop in 21 points, including five three-pointers. Javon McCrea added 15 points and seven rebounds. Mitchell Watt finished with 11 points and a season-high five blocked shots.
Jarod Oldham had the finest game of his young career with 11 points and seven rebounds, both career highs. The sophomore point guard added nine assists, a block and three steals.
Titus Robinson scored and got fouled with 8:40 left in the first half. His free throw gave the Bulls the lead for good, 23-22. Late in the first stanza, the Bulls got a spark from Cameron Downing. The sophomore center scored on three straight possessions and finished the half with seven points in just three minutes of action. Buffalo led 40-32 at the half.
Akron bounced back and opened the second half on a 9-3 scoring run to cut the UB lead to 43-41. But the Bulls responded with an 18-6 run of their own to extend their lead to 61-47 with 9:15 remaining. Buffalo used the three-point shot to its advantage as Oldham, Filzen and Tony Watson each knocked down triples during the run.
Akron whittled away the Buffalo lead to 72-69 with 1:35 remaining. However, Filzen’s fifth three-pointer of the game, with 1:16 left, extended the UB advantage to 75-69 and a pair of good defensive stops sealed the win for Buffalo.
The Bulls out-rebounded Akron, 37-36. McCrea and Oldham shared team-high honors with seven apiece. Defensively, Buffalo had eight blocked shots, seven steals and also forced 18 Akron turnovers.
“I thought it was a total team effort,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “It might look obvious, because everybody scored that played. But I think we got great energy from everybody that played, and it just so happened that they scored.”
The Bulls will next hit the road for a game at Bowling Green on Saturday.
Courtesy of Buffalo Athletics |
