Seniors go out in winning fashion

On a senior night that celebrated three Buffalo athletes, it was Mario Jordan that put the men's basketball team on his shoulders. Jordan, the least influential of the three seniors, led the Bulls with a well-rounded performance to an 83-71 victory over Akron on Wednesday.

The win also clinched a Buffalo home playoff game in the Mid-American Conference tournament for the third year in a row.

"This was a high-level game. I think our guys really stepped it up defensively another notch again," said Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "They really embraced senior night the way it's supposed to be."

Jordan scored 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting and was perfect from the free-throw line, sinking all eight of his attempts. He also added 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double.

"The biggest part was the W," Jordan said. "I'm just playing as hard as possible."

Buffalo (18-11, 8-9 MAC) trailed only once as the Zips (20-8, 13-4 MAC) converted a missed three by senior guard Calvin Cage on Buffalo's first possession into an easy layup for the game's first points. After that, the Bulls attacked the basket with multiple backdoor cuts and went to the free-throw line early and often, where Buffalo shot a perfect 10-for-10 in the first half.

Buffalo stretched its lead to 10 on the shooting of freshman guard Eric Moore. Moore drained all four of his shots in the first half, including two three-pointers.

"He's starting to expect more from himself which gives him a chance to contribute," Witherspoon said. "The biggest thing for him was to play hard and still be effective. He's doing it in practice and it's starting to come around in games."

Akron head coach Keith Dambrot also praised the young guard.

"He's played pretty well the last few games," Dambrot said. "He shot it better than he has but he's a tough guy, he's a gritty guy."

The Bulls ended the half leading 39-32. Despite several early turnovers and hitting only one of its six free throws in the first frame, Akron managed to stay close due mainly to the Zips hitting 7-of-9 three-point shots.

Akron came out in the second half and looked to establish leading scorer junior forward Romeo Travis, who entered the game averaging 13.7 points per contest. Travis scored on two of Akron's first three possessions of the second half and the Zips stayed within six until an 8-0 Buffalo run capped by a Cage three-pointer brought the entire crowd to its feet.

"This is a difficult place to play," Dambrot said. "Unfortunately we had to play them on senior night two years in a row."

Akron closed the lead to 10 at the 4:59 mark on a Travis dunk, but Jordan found junior forward Parnell Smith sitting behind the full-court press for his own slam, which accounted for two of his nine points.

Cage was the high scorer of the game with 22 points on 6-for-16 shooting and fellow senior guard Roderick Middleton contributed 12 points to the effort. Junior forward Yassin Idbihi was the other Bull in double digits with 11 points. He also grabbed six rebounds.

Sophomore guard Cedrick Middleton, the younger brother of Buffalo's Roderick Middleton, led the Zips. The younger Middleton scored 14 points for the Zips and also had five rebounds. Travis and two other Zips joined Middleton in double digits. Travis put in 11 second-half points after being held scoreless in the first and senior center Rob Preston and sophomore guard Nick Dials had 13 and 10, respectively.

Before the game, Jordan, Cage and Middleton were honored in a ceremony dedicated to the senior members of the team. Senior team manager Aaron Witherspoon, Reggie's nephew, was also honored.

The win is Buffalo's second in a row and the Bulls will try to continue to build momentum heading into the MAC tournament.

"We went on a stretch where we lost a few games. The biggest thing was our energy level. I don't think we were playing hard enough," Cage said. "We need to get better at playing better on defense and once that happens, teams are going to struggle to play against Buffalo defense."

Buffalo now heads to Oxford, Ohio for its season finale against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks on Saturday. The last time the two teams met, the RedHawks beat the Bulls 81-74 at Alumni Arena. Miami is lead by senior guard William Hatcher, who enters the game averaging 14.3 points per game.