It was an all too familiar feeling for Buffalo fans, one that they would rather forget.
Currently experiencing a football season full of nerve-wracking final moments, fans watched as the men's basketball team let a 60-41 lead diminish due to a 17-0 second half run by the Canisius College Golden Griffins Tuesday night.
But it was junior guard John Boyer who put the icing on the cake and provided a healer for the fans' aches and pains.
With the game tied 64-64, Boyer snuck in for an offensive rebound off a junior guard Rodney Pierce miss, received a pass in the corner and drained the game-winning 3-pointer with 32.3 seconds left, helping the Bulls (2-0) to a dramatic 69-64 win over the cross-town rival Golden Griffins (0-2) at the Koessler Center.
With the Bulls up 68-67 two years ago at the same gym, Boyer made a critical steal on Canisius' last possession and nailed two free throws with .3 seconds left to seal the victory in his first game as a Bull.
"He must love the Koessler Center because he's had two big games here," said senior guard Greg Gamble. "Johnny [Boyer] likes the big stage at Canisius."
Boyer finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds off the bench for Buffalo, who saw their 19-point lead with 10:34 evaporate and eventually turn into a Canisius 64-63 lead with only 2:29 remaining.
"It seemed as if we just lost focus in the beginning of the second-half and then towards the end, we knew we had to close it out," Boyer said. "We just came together as a team, everybody started boxing out and we finished it out at the end."
Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon knows the best is yet to come from his backup point guard, who suffered an injury during the summer and couldn't practice with the team during that time.
"We've seen him play better than he did tonight," he said. "... John is a tough, resilient kid that gives it his all. I think he's still kind of getting into a groove."
It was Canisius' full-court trap that stole momentum away from Buffalo's side. Feeling the energy from the sold-out crowd while flustering Buffalo's offensive attack, the Golden Griffins started chipping away into the Buffalo lead by forcing numerous turnovers which were converted into easy Canisius buckets.
The trap confused the Bulls as well as taking away their energy.
"[Canisius'] mindset was they weren't going to go down easy and that extended us fatigue-wise." Witherspoon said.
Gamble, who finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, thought it was more great execution by Canisius than a Buffalo collapse.
"They're a Division I team, and teams will make runs. I think we did a good job weathering the storm," Gamble said. "That's what mature teams do, they weather the storm and come back to finish the game."
The exhausting victory marked Buffalo's second road victory, doubling their amount from last season. It also starts the Bulls at 2-0 for the first time since the 2005-2006 season.
Buffalo also left the Koessler Athletic Center with their fourth straight victory against Canisius.
"This is a difficult place to get a win. You're not going to come here and they're going to make it easy for you," Witherspoon said. "It's a closed-in environment, every time a basket is made there's loud noise which makes it hard to communicate... It also makes momentum rapid, which makes it tough."
Both Pierce and junior guard Calvin Betts played all but four minutes in the game. Pierce started his second game at shooting guard and scored a career-high 26 points on 10-for-21 shooting. Betts also chipped in 10 points and 8 rebounds.
The game looked like a cakewalk for the Bulls, who jumped out to a 41-24 halftime lead. Buffalo's switching defenses limited Canisius to 29.6 percent shooting in the first-half. The Bulls also owned the glass in the first half, holding a 26-14 advantage in rebounds heading into the locker room.
The Bulls will play their third-straight road game to start the season when they head to Evansville to take on the Purple Aces. Game time is 8 p.m. on Saturday.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
