Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon must have wished for a frantic final minute while blowing out 46 candles on his birthday cake, because that is exactly what he got.
Despite a career-high 21 points from freshmen Byron Mulkey, the Bulls (11-16, 3-10 Mid-American Conference) were unable to cap a late second half come back and fell to the aggressive Golden Flashes of Kent State (18-9,10-3 MAC), 68-64.
"We played hard and what we talked about with the guys before the game is that we would have to come in here and not be contained and not be a pet. Like the song says we would have to 'welcome ourselves to the jungle and raise up to that intensity level,'" Witherspoon said. "We did better at a number of things, but just came up inches short, literally."
Buffalo got within two points on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Eric Moore with 36 seconds left and then after a Kent State turnover, had a chance to tie and then go ahead. Unfortunately, senior guard Darwin Young missed an open lay-up and Moore's rebound three-pointer from the far left wing rimmed out sealing the game for the Golden Flashes with a defensive rebound. It wouldn't have been a Buffalo-Kent State finish without the clich?(c) last second dunk by KSU junior forward Haminn Quaintance sending the crowd into frenzy.
"We wanted Darwin in there for a defensive possession and he did a tremendous job defensively in that we forced Kent State into a turnover, exactly what we wanted to do," Witherspoon said. "Darwin tracked it down and went in for the lay-up and it's a bang, bang play, he didn't use the backboard, they (Kent State) hustled until the end and I don't know how we didn't get the rebound. That is a shot I will be seeing all night."
A textbook ending was in the mix from the get go as the Bulls came back from a seven point deficit behind Moore and Mulkey. The backcourt duo got the margin down to 54-52 with 7:25 to go after an 8-3 run by the tandem. As it has been all season, the Bulls couldn't close with momentum in their favor and failed to complete the late run.
"In any game that is a one possession game you can think of a thousand little things," Witherspoon said. "We had shots around the basket, free throw shooters at the line where we needed to get some and just came up a little short."
Kent State led by just a point, 32-31, after a back-and-forth first half that featured five lead changes and four ties. The Golden Flashes took an early seven-point lead at 16-9 midway through the period, only to see Buffalo battle back to eventually take a 27-25 lead. The Golden Flashes never led by more than nine throughout.
Senior forward Yassin Idbihi, the league's leading rebounder, posted his seventh double-double of the year with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Moore scored 12 points on 4-10 from three-point range. But it was the fresh face that paced the Bulls. Mulkey had four assists, four rebounds and was 4-8 from no mans land on his way to a career and game-high 21 points for Buffalo.
"(Mulkey) is phenomenal," Witherspoon said. "When you think about him coming into a situation like this, we have had a lot of great players come in here and if they were here tonight they really would be proud by how he kept fighting."
The Golden Flashes got high production from Quaintance who finished with 11 points, and a team-high eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Junior guard Jordan Mincy recorded a career-high 10 assists and did not commit a turnover.
"We have got to give ourselves a chance to grow from this and embrace this as a struggle," Witherspoon said. "Not just in the loss or even if we won, we wouldn't embrace that either. We need to embrace the struggle as a journey."
In the loss, Buffalo fell to 0-10 lifetime at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center and 0-5 in the last five games against Kent State. The Bulls will head to Miami (Ohio) this Saturday for its final regular season away game. The game is scheduled to tip off at 2:30 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
