 BUFFALO 68, BOWLING GREEN 66
“There were a lot of things that we could have done better,” BG’s A’uston Calhoun said. “I know we got beat on the boards, especially in the second half. We could have played a little tougher; gotten to loose balls a little quicker.”
The Falcons did have two shots in the last 10 seconds of the game, but neither fell.Cam Black missed a 10-foot jumper with seven seconds left and Buffalo holding a two-point lead.
“I told Jordon (Crawford) beforehand to look at Cam; he was open. But I guess he kind of gave it to him before he could roll all the way to the basket. It ended with him shooting a jump shot. He can knock down a jump shot, but we prefer it to be in the paint or something like that,” Calhoun said.
After BG fouled on the rebound after the miss, UB’s Dave Barnett missed the front end of the 1-and-1 with 5.5 seconds left. Calhoun grabbed the rebound and passed to Crawford, who went quickly down the floor, right to the basket. However, Buffalo’s 6-feet-10 Michael Watt blocked the layup attempt by the 5-6 Crawford at the buzzer.
“There is only one guy who could get the ball up-court that quickly, so I give credit to Jordon,” BG head coach Louis Orr said. “Jordon did a great job getting it there (to the basket) and if Watt doesn’t make the block, I believe it’s a layup and a bucket. You hope in those situations that Jordon has got a chance to (draw) a foul. … It didn’t happen. But I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity.”
BG held a 27-26 halftime lead. Ironically, Buffalo was within one point because Jarod Oldham went the length of the court for a layup after two made free throws by Crawford with five seconds remaining in the first half.
The Bulls, 1-of-11 on 3-pointers in the first half, made their first seven 3-point shots in the second half against the Falcons’ 2-3 zone.
“After they hit a few, they got a little bit more confident and when they got the rebounds, their bigs started getting more confident,” Calhoun said. “They just got a lot of momentum off that. … We were on our heels, just fighting trying to stick in there with them.”
Even with the 3-point barrage, Buffalo could not pull away. The Bulls were up 61-53 after Watt’s 3-pointer with 5:29 left in the game. Bowling Green then went on an 11-2 run to take a 64-63 lead with 1:47 left to play. Calhoun scored seven points in the run and Black had four.
Buffalo responded with a dunk from Javon McCrea with 1:32 left to regain the lead, 65-64.
After Black’s miss, Barnett, who was 3-of-3 on treys in the second half, drained a triple with 54.9 seconds left to push the Bulls up 68-64.
Calhoun responded with a layup 10 seconds later to pull BG to within two, 68-66. However, the Falcons could get no closer.
“We had chances to the end. We just came up short,” Orr said.
Calhoun scored a career-high 29 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Dee Brown scored 13 points and added five rebounds on his 22nd birthday. Scott Thomas contributed 12 points, six rebounds, and four steals.
“He’s a terrific player. His skill set is so versatile there are so many different things that he does,” UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon said about Calhoun.
McCrea and Watt each scored 16 points for Buffalo with McCrea grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
NOTES:... The Falcons now play six games against the MAC West starting Wednesday with a home contest against Central Michigan ... Buffalo got a huge lift from its bench, which out-scored BG’s bench, 24-3 ... BG held a 30-26 edge in points in the paint, and a 13-10 advantage in points off turnovers ... Four of BG’s starters played 32 or more minutes while no Buffalo starter played more than 29 ... Brown was 6-of-6 and Calhoun was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line ... Former Rossford standout Kevin Heck is in his seventh season as an assistant coach at Buffalo.
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