"Bulls tourney starts hot, ends cold"

As the Bulls leave the America's Youth Classic, there are two new notes in the team's record book.

The highlight of the men's basketball tournament in Evansville, Ind. came when the Bulls (3-2) took on the University of Miami who are from college basketball's powerhouse Atlantic Coast Conference. The Bulls were 0-16 all-time against ACC teams. That would change Saturday night as the Bulls upset Miami (3-2), 60-57.

For the second night in a row, the Bulls were able to erase a second half deficit. The Hurricanes got off to the hot start in the second half taking a quick 39-32 lead before sophomore guard Eric Moore hit two consecutive threes. This sparked an eight-point swing to give the Bulls a 40-39 lead with just under 13 minutes to play.

Battling back and forth for the majority of the half, Moore stepped up again knocking down a third three, which gave the Bulls a four-point lead with just 47 seconds left.

After two missed Buffalo free throws, Hurricane guard Denis Clementes drove for a lay-up that tied the game at 57 a piece with 24 seconds remaining.

Coming out of a timeout, head coach Reggie Witherspoon drew up a play for senior center Yassin Idbihi. Grabbing a feed from senior forward Parnell Smith, Idbihi nailed a turnaround jumper over a Miami defender to give the Bulls a 59-57 lead with three seconds left. Miami then turned the ball over on the ensuing in-bounds play to secure the win for the Bulls.

Along with hitting the game-winning jumper, Idbihi also passed Mark Bortz for the Buffalo record for career rebounds with 615. Idbihi was dominant with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

"Miami crushed two teams at home and we knew they were a really good team," Witherspoon said. "We didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but we rebounded well and controlled the tempo and that was the difference."

In the Bulls first tournament game Friday night, they matched up against the Cleveland State Vikings. Going into halftime, the Bulls were down 35-28 and in need of a surge of energy.

In the second half, Buffalo came out a different team and lit up the scoreboard for 49 points and won the game, 77-73. Smith led the charge with 24 points, seven rebounds, and four steals.

The Bulls outscored the Vikings, 36-14 in the first 12 minutes of the game and held a 64-51 lead with just under eight minutes to play. However, the Vikings (2-3) would not go down easily. Cleveland State went on a 13-3 scoring run, to cut the lead to 67-64 with only 2:40 to play.

Attempting one last surge, the Vikings forced a Bulls turnover and drew a foul with the made basket to cut the lead to two with 14 seconds left. After two missed Bulls free throws, Cleveland State had an opportunity to tie or win the game. But sophomore forward Vadim Fedotov took a charge to give the ball back to Buffalo with six seconds left. Moore would net two free throws to seal the game.

"We played the entire first half hesitant and that caused the majority of the problems," Witherspoon said. "We were a lot more aggressive in the second half and that helped us."

Three other Bulls scored in double figures. Sophomore guard Andy Robinson netted a career-high 15 points, Moore finished with 14 and sophomore guard Greg Gamble dropped 10 points.

In the Bulls third game of the tournament they faced the host team, the Evansville Purple Aces. It was clear from the tip-off that the two battles had put their wear and tear on Buffalo as the Purple Aces (3-2) rocked them, 74-44.

"We lost to a very good Evansville team," Witherspoon said. "We didn't play with the energy and passion that we did in the first two games and that cost us tonight."

The Bulls shot a dismal 24 percent from the field, turned the ball over 24 times, were 1-16 from beyond the three point line, and allowed Evansville to shoot almost 65 percent from outside the arc.

Buffalo looked to dominate in the paint, but it was the other way around as Smith, Idbihi and Fedotov all chalked up early fouls and forced the Bulls to go to a smaller line-up. In limited minutes, Idbihi led the team in scoring with 13 points.

The Bulls will play their first home game of the season when they host Iona Tuesday night at 7 p.m.