In a wild game that saw 13 lead changes, the University at Buffalo came away with an overtime victory against the Elon Phoenix, 70-63 on Tuesday night in North Carolina.
Throughout the close game, neither team led by more than seven points at any time. UB's largest lead was the seven points - the final score, which was padded because of the fouls committed by Elon towards the end of the overtime period.
Calvin Cage put the game into overtime with a three-pointer that capped off an 11-2 run by the Bulls that began with just over five minutes left in the second half. Cage also hit a pivotal three-pointer in overtime, giving the Bulls their first and only lead of the extra period.
"I said to our team at the end of regulation with a little over a minute to go, I said they were trapping and rotating and taking chances on our big guys," said Bulls' head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "And I said what's going to happen is we're going to hit a few threes to win the game."
The Bulls needed those three-pointers, as made shots from beyond the arc have been very hard to come by for UB in recent games. Buffalo shot 7-18 from the land of plenty, including a 4-10 performance in the first half.
The Bulls scored two treys in the second half and one more in overtime. Each one of those three-point shots meant something special for the Bulls. The first tied the game towards the end of regulation, while the second gave the Bulls their first lead in overtime and the third essentially put the game out of reach for Elon.
Turner Battle led the team with 18 points followed by Yassin Idbihi and Mark Bortz who each scored 13 points and Daniel Gilbert who threw in 11 on the night. Calvin Cage was the fifth Bull to reach double figures in scoring, with 10 points in the game.
Early on, it seemed like the game was going to be a struggle for the Bulls and that perception was not misleading at all.
"We knew this was not going to be an easy basketball game," said Witherspoon. "It's rare to come into a situation like this and come away with a win on their court."
The Bulls went into the half leading Elon, 26-23. Battle led the Bulls with 10 points at the half, followed by Idbihi with four points. The Bulls shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, but according to Witherspoon, that wasn't a positive statistic.
"I'm pleased that we had enough character to persevere through some difficulties," Witherspoon said. "We didn't shoot the ball very well."
Witherspoon believes that the Bulls, in addition to not shooting the ball as well as the team had hoped, committed too many turnovers throughout the game.
"We turned it over too many times and the guys are really not happy with that now, we are going to try and fix that in the future," Witherspoon said.
What Witherspoon was impressed with, however, was the Bulls' ability to dominate the boards in this game. Ending the game with 43 rebounds compared to Elon's 30, the Bulls showed a dominance down low that they have not been able to achieve yet this year.
"We thought we had an opportunity to have a size advantage for a number of reasons," said Witherspoon. "We thought that their post players weren't particularly stepping out and shooting threes."
A size advantage for the Bulls may be an understatement. At times Elon had players who stood around 6 feet 2 inches covering the Bulls' 6-foot-10-inch Mark Bortz.
This win meant a lot for the Bulls, coming off a disheartening loss to Western Michigan, but for Turner Battle, the win was especially meaningful. It was the first time he got to play this close to his hometown of Turnersville, N.C. as a Bull, and in turn, in front of his friends and family. Battle led Buffalo with 18 points. He also had eight rebounds and four assists.
The Bulls will next take to the court at home on Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the women's basketball team. Both teams play against Niagara, with the women's game starting at 5 p.m. and the men's game starting immediately, following the end of the first game.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
