The venue and opposition changed, but it was the same old story for the UB men's basketball team. Once again, it was 3-point shooting, fouls and the inability to contain an opponent's star player that added up to a loss for the Bulls - their ninth in a row.
Marshall's Ronald Blackshear scored a game-high 26 points and was 5-10 from 3-point range as the Thundering Herd (9-6, 5-2 Mid-American Conference) defeated Buffalo 87-77 before 4,441 fans at the Cam Henderson Center on Saturday night. Blackshear hit all five of his three's in the game's first 10 minutes.
The Herd snapped a three-game losing streak.
"This is a good win for us," Marshall head coach Greg White said. "It was important for us to get back on track tonight, and I thought we played well from top to bottom."
The Bulls (3-13, 0-7 MAC) remain the MAC's only winless team and are 0-9 on the road this season.
"I thought Marshall did a great job in the first half," UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "They got out and ran well. I thought offensively we played well, but against a team like Marshall, there is little margin for error."
A renewed focus on 3-point shooting outside of practice did not help the Bulls as Blackshear alone out-scored them from 3-point range. Buffalo shot only 2-12 from beyond the arc in the first half and 2-7 in the second half.
Meanwhile, UB racked up the fouls, collecting 22 to 13 for the hometown Herd. Big men Mark Bortz and Joe Veal each finished the game with four fouls and saw limited action. Marshall had no players in foul trouble. In fact, the Bulls only got to the free throw line six times for the game.
The Bulls lost despite outscoring Marshall in the paint, off turnovers, on second chance points and on fast break points. UB even won the turnover battle 14-12.
One only has to look at the field goal percentages in the first half to understand how Buffalo could have lost despite winning all those statistical categories. Marshall shot 63 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from 3-point range during a first half that ended with them holding a 48-33 advantage.
Freshman B.J. Walker, who saw 36 minutes of action thanks in part to the foul trouble on UB's other two big men, paced the Bulls with 22 points on 11-16 shooting. Jason Bird scored 16 points for Buffalo and was the only player shooting well from 3-point range, going 3-6. Turner Battle had 12 points and seven assists.
Marshall's Marvin Black posted a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
