Basketball is said to be a game of runs, a statement that surely applied to Saturday's contest between the UB men's basketball team and the Western Michigan Broncos.
Sort of.
While basketball may in fact be a game of runs, it was the Buffalo Bulls (5-7, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) who were basically run off the court and out of Alumni Arena in a thorough 84-54 whipping by a Western Michigan (9-1, 3-0 MAC) squad who has now won eight straight (six in a row on the road) and are ranked 14th in the Rating Percentage Index. The loss was Buffalo's fourth straight.
"They played well and we played awful," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. " Their R.P.I is not a fluke, and if you don't play well against them you get embarrassed."
What led to Buffalo's crushing was the major discrepancy in field goal percentage in the first half where WMU shot at a scintillating clip of 64 percent to the Bulls' paltry 26.9 percent.
"We struggled defensively," said Witherspoon. "But they are good. Ben Reed is pretty good. Mike Williams is good."
Reed catapulted the Broncos to victory by going an awesome 9-11 from the field for 22 points with six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
It seemed that whatever UB did, Reed could do better. Reed suffocated anything that Buffalo did to try and get momentum rolling. Turner Battle makes a three-point play, Reed comes back and drives for an uncontested lay up. The Bulls score on a tough possession, Reed comes right back with a catch and shoot to stifle any hope of a comeback.
"I just go out and let the game come to me," said Reed. "I've got Mike's (Williams) and Kann's post-presence, and they draw so much attention so it's easy for me to get open shots. That's why I went 9-11, I'm just taking open shots."
"He did hit a couple of shots with us hanging on him," said Witherspoon.
Shooting ability, or the lack thereof, was sadly not the only major difference in the game for Buffalo.
Western Michigan was able to dominate almost every statistical category in the game, out rebounding the Bulls 45-30, dominating points in the paint 46-22 and being able to hit the open man with crisp passes while recording 20 assists to UB's nine.
"They just out-toughed us," said Witherspoon. "They got to the glass and got deep position. We did not get deep position and that is painful. We cannot allow teams to miss 26 shots and get 15 offensive rebounds."
Buffalo was led by Jason Bird's 11 points, but to say they were led by anyone would truly be unfair. No Bull put on an impressive performance, with Battle having a sub par to poor day of eight points, one assist and three turnovers.
Yasiin Idbihi was able to put up nine points and six rebounds, but was sliced up on the defensive end by WMU's stalwart post players.
Williams, the second cog in the Broncos second best scoring tandem in the nation to Reed, was able to chip in 16 points on 8-13 shooting.
Witherspoon's displeasure with the team's performance was clearly evident at the post game press conference in addressing the media.
"Thanks for staying the whole game guys," said Witherspoon. "I apologize if your stomachs are bothering you."
