After struggling through the regular season, the men's basketball team almost pulled off a miraculous upset in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament in Cleveland, Ohio last Wednesday night.
???Like all season, the 12th seeded Bulls (10-20) failed to close the game out and lost to the fifth seed Miami RedHawks, 69-68.
???"I have to give credit to Miami, they played well," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "They shot well and fought hard, and our guys did the same, but we came up a little short."
???Miami came out strong in the opening minutes of the game as they scored the first eight points with Kenny Hayes nailing a three to end the run.
???Buffalo did not score their first field goal until the 15:43 mark when sophomore forward Max Boudreau put in a lay-up off a pass from sophomore guard John Boyer.
???After two free-throws by Miami's Eric Pollitz, the Bulls went on a 22-6 run over the next nine minutes. Buffalo hit four straight shots to start the scoring and tie the game at 12 with 12:10 left in the half.
???Buffalo started to connect from behind the arc. Boyer gave the Bulls a three-point lead and junior guard Andy Robinson followed with another three.
???The Bulls dominated inside the paint during the run. Boudreaux grabbed an offensive rebound and put in a lay-up. Junior forward Greg Gamble hit two consecutive shots to extend Buffalo's lead to 10 points.
???"We started to move the ball more during this stretch," Boyer said. "We got people moving around and we wanted to get the defense to be on their toes."
???After two Miami layups, sophomore guard Byron Mulkey responded with a three pointer to give the Bulls a nine point lead with 4:50 to go in the half.
???The RedHawks took control for the remainder of the half, going on a 9-1 run. Miami benefited from a three pointer from Eric Pollitz and a four-point play from Michael Bramos as he hit a three pointer while being fouled. Bramos later drove to the hoop and hit a lay-up as the half expired. Buffalo went into halftime with a 30-29 lead.
???"We grabbed the energy and it was a crucial run to help us get back in the game," said Miami's interim head coach Jermaine Henderson. "The run gave us momentum and spirit that we had to start the game and came out with the same in the second half."
???Henderson filled in for head coach Charlie Coles, who had open-heart surgery before the start of the tournament.
???Miami carried that momentum into the second half as they went on a 6-0 run.
???Buffalo answered back with a 12-2 run of their own. Sophomore guard Rodney Pierce made two free throws and then hit a three to give the Bulls the lead 39-38. That was followed by a steal by sophomore forward Calvin Betts which led to a circus lay-up by Boyer. The run ended with Boyer hitting a three to give the Bulls a four-point lead.
???With another three from Boyer, Buffalo went up by nine points at the 12:17 mark, the biggest lead in the second half. Miami climbed back into the game with a 6-0 run over the next three minutes of play by making four free throws.
???The Bulls would extend their lead back to six points with 7:17 left in the game with jumpers by freshman Jawann Alston and Pierce.
???The RedHawks then scored nine of the next 11 points and reclaimed the lead 58-57 at the 4:41 mark when Tyler Dierkers tipped in a missed shot.
???Betts came right back down the court for an alley oop lay-up from Boyer to give Buffalo a one-point lead.
???Miami took control of the game after this play. After a missed jumper by Pierce, Hayes nailed a shot to give the RedHawks a 60-59 lead with 3:01 in the game and they never trailed again.
???Miami hit seven of eight free throws down the stretch. Hayes hit one with 20 seconds left to push the lead to four. Gamble hit a lay-up for Buffalo with four seconds left to cut the lead to two points. The RedHawks' Tim Pollitz then made two clutch free throws to seal the game.
???A three pointer by Pierce as the buzzer sounded made the two free throws at the end even more important.
???"To hit those two free those gave me confidence," Tim Pollitz said. "I just went to the line to take the free throws and didn't think about anything. It felt good to put an icer on the game."
???Pierce led the Bulls in scoring with 16 points. Boyer had a career night as he finished with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. Gamble contributed with 10 points and seven rebounds, five of them offensive ones.
???Bramos was the leader for the RedHawks with 23 points and three blocks. Tim Pollitz finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
???Buffalo shot 40 percent for the game and were 7 of 24 from three-point range. Miami shot 46 percent and 83 percent from the free throw line. The RedHawks hit 20 of 24 free throws, compared to only 9 of 11 for the Bulls.
???The Bulls out-rebounded the RedHawks 44 to 25 in the game. Buffalo also held Miami to four offensive rebounds, while they pulled down 19.
???"Right now, you sit back and think about every one that they got," Witherspoon said. "Holding them to four is pretty good, but the way the game was going, we needed to hold them to zero (offensive) rebounds."
???The Bulls' future looks good considering the way they played towards the end of the season. Next season, Buffalo will bring back their entire team except for senior forwards Andrew Atman and Christian Schmidt.
???"When we started the season, Jawann and Brian were the last two post players brought in," Witherspoon said. "We wanted to bring them along slowly like we did early in the season. But then we had to play them when Vadim and Andrew went down, our two biggest post players and they got good experience."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
