"One of these times that last second shot is going to go in for us or not go in for the opponent," said UB Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon.
Unfortunately, that time has not yet come.
The Bulls dropped another close contest 57-55 to Miami (OH) in front of 4,768 RedHawk faithfuls at Millet Hall on Saturday afternoon. It was the tenth-straight loss for Buffalo (3-14, 0-8 MAC) and the fifth straight win for Miami (9-9, 7-2) whose non-conference strength of schedule is top five in the nation.
Down by four with 10 seconds left, freshman Roderick Middleton hit a layup to cut the lead to two. Middleton then fouled on the ensuing possession, sending Miami forward Danny Horace to the line. Horace missed the first shot and Buffalo's Daniel Gilbert rebounded, passing the ball to Battle who put up a three that hit the back of the rim.
By a lucky bounce, the offensive rebound came right back to Battle, who had enough time to shoot another three, but this one fell a few inches short, hitting the inside of the front of the rim before bouncing out after hitting the back. According to officials after the game, Battle got the shot off in time.
"I thought coming into the game, if we played very well, we would have a chance to win it in the end," Witherspoon said. "We had that chance to win in the end, but we just didn't hit the shot."
Battle led the Bulls with 13 points, hitting three treys, had five assists, and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore Mark Bortz chipped in with 11 points and also had six rebounds. B.J. Walker (eight points) and Gilbert - held scoreless, both had six rebounds as well. For the game, UB was out-rebounded 34-32 by the RedHawks.
Miami Junior Juby Johnson led all scorers with 21 points. The 6'5" guard was 8-19 from the field, 5-13 from the three-point line. He did most of his damage when Miami was down eight with 8:35 left in the game. Three of his five treys came in that time period.
Forward Danny Horace had a big game, scoring 16 points and getting nine rebounds. Guard Josh Hausfeld helped Johnson by hitting two of his three 3-pointers in the second half. He finished with nine points, three rebounds, and three assists.
Miami takes its shot at first place in the East Division with a road game against first place Kent State tonight.
Buffalo is in action next against Northern Illinois Thursday at Alumni Arena. The Huskies (10-9, 6-3) are tied for first place in the West Division with Central Michigan.
