If the Mid-American Conference tournament started today, the UB men's basketball team would have a meandering trail to follow, with the Bulls set to play a first-round MAC playoff game on the road.
However, in a must-win game on the road against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (14-5 overall, 9-2 MAC), mediocrity continued to plague the Bulls (13-7 overall, 6-6 MAC), as Miami was able to win its sixth straight game by the overtime score of 77-74 in front of a crowd of 4,327 at Millett Hall.
With the win, the RedHawks avenged its last loss, which came at the hands of the Bulls in Buffalo back on Jan. 15 by the score of 67-56.
Looking for a spark out of the gate, UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon tweaked his starting lineup, deciding to open up with sophomore forward Parnell Smith ahead of the usually steady Mario Jordan.
In the first period, the teams were neck and neck for a while, with six tied scores and ten lead changes in the half. With the score tied 14-14 at the 7:47 mark, the Bulls were able to extend their lead to 38-26 by halftime, getting hot and going on a 15-4 run before the intermission.
In the second half, Buffalo was able to stretch its lead to 17 points with 17:06 left.
After that, the RedHawks started chipping away.
Miami was able to close the lead late in the game. They were down 14 points with 4:45 left in regulation, but sloppy Buffalo defense and foul trouble led Miami to an 18-4 run, relying on the clutch 3-point shooting of William Hatcher, who drained three treys and scored 11 in the run.
The cold-shooting Buffalo squad was scoreless from 3:26 left until Roderick Middleton hit two free throws to extend UB's lead to 67-64. A foul was called on Bulls' guard Daniel Gilbert with eight seconds left, sending Miami's Chet Mason to the line.
After missing his first free throw, Mason missed the second on purpose, and Yassin Idbihi had trouble bringing down the rebound. The ball bounced out of bounds, last touched by Buffalo with five seconds left. Miami head coach Charlie Coles drew up a play to give the ball to the hot hand of Hatcher, who was in turn able to drain a three from the baseline with 2.9 seconds left.
Calling a timeout, Buffalo was unable to advance the ball past the baseline and call another timeout, but instead the ball was in the hands of standout guard Turner Battle for a low-percentage half-court shot, which actually bounced off the back iron.
Veterans of the extra session, this being their fifth overtime game of the year, the Bulls were able to take a brief lead on a Mark Bortz jumper, going up by a score of 69-68. Unfortunately, that was the last to be heard from him, as Bortz contributed a team-high 16 points, but fouled out with 3:36 left in the overtime period.
The RedHawks went on a 5-0 run and never looked back. UB's Calvin Cage hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with 12 seconds left, but Miami's Danny Horace was able to close it out, hitting two free throws to stretch the RedHawks' lead back to three for the victory, 77-74.
"It's disappointing because the team played so well for so long," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We just got tentative, both offensively and defensively, and couldn't hold on."
The Buffalo collapse was indicative of the offensive futility of its starting five, a unit that scored 31 points on combined 9-for-29 shooting. The Buffalo bench was led by Bortz and Cage, who were able to combine for 29. No other UB player was able to reach double figures.
The Bulls were out-rebounded by a 47-29 margin, with Bortz grabbing seven, including four on the offensive end.
"Mark was going at it the whole game. He came out with great energy and in some cases was all we had, in terms of post play," said Witherspoon.
Parnell Smith made the most of his first career start, as he scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished for two assists and even notched a steal in the loss.
"Parnell had some very good practices, and we needed some good minutes and energy from him. He gave us his best effort," said Witherspoon.
Miami, the ninth-best 3-point shooting team in the nation at 41 percent from downtown, was led by senior forward Horace's 25 points and seven boards. Standout guard Mason added 16 points, nine rebounds, and four assists.
"Their leaders pulled together and took the game over for them," said Witherspoon. "It's always going to come down to that."
As disappointing as this loss was for Buffalo, they will have no time to dwell, as they stay on the road to face off against their next opponent, the first-place Western Michigan Broncos (15-7 overall, 8-4 MAC), who defeated the Bulls in the last match-up between the two schools on Dec. 4 at Alumni Arena.
"We have to approach the game by first looking at ourselves," said Witherspoon. "We have to make sure we give our very best effort all the time and take it from there."
The Bulls and the Broncos are set to tip-off on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Kalamazoo.
