A good player knows how to take what the defense gives him. A great player takes what he wants from the defense.
Despite being double teamed for most of the game, Vermont forward Marqus Blakely fell just three assists short of recording a triple double and proved why he's a great player. He finished the night with 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists and hit the game-winning free-throw with just over nine seconds to play to lead the Catamounts (1-1) to a 58-57 victory.
'We were jittery coming into this game,' said Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon. 'We weren't very good offensively. We took some rushed shots and that got us completely out of sorts offensively. We turned the ball over too many times in the first half and they played well enough to win, so credit to them.'
Last year, Buffalo (0-1) battled hard all game long with UConn but turned the ball over on their last possession and ended up falling to the Huskies by four.
Sunday night: deja-vu.
After trailing by 10 in the second half, Buffalo tied the score at 57 with 41 seconds to play and needed just one defensive stop.
Instead, as the shot clock was winding down, senior forward Max Boudreau committed his fifth and final foul, bailing out Blakely by sending him to the line with 9.6 seconds to play. He sank 1-of-2 free throws and gave the Bulls one last possession trailing by one.
It was a gritty game that was nearly statistically even and came down to the last shot.
But Buffalo never had a shot, literally. They were unable to put up an attempt on their final trip down court and lost the game in heartbreak fashion.
There's an old adage; you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. This statement hit home hard at Alumni Arena after sophomore forward Mitchell Watt turned the ball over and watched the Catamounts steal not only the ball, but also a road victory right out of the Bulls' hands.
As Watt described the final possession of the game, Witherspoon grimly closed his eyes and recalled the mishap that ended the night.
'The ball was advanced to me,' Watt said. 'My man and John Boyer's left me so I dribbled in and tried a hand off [pass] to Rodney [Pierce] and there was some confusion and Vermont came up with the ball.'
Nick Vier was credited with the steal and ran out the clock to seal the victory. He ended the game with 12 points and three rebounds, but the real star for the Catamounts was Blakely.
'I thought [Buffalo] really did a good job of taking the ball out of [Blakely's] hands,' said Vermont head coach Mike Lonergan. 'He's a heck of a player but they made every one of his 17 points very hard for him to get.'
When the Bulls double-teamed him down low, Blakely was able to find the open shooters behind the 3-point line for some open looks. In the second half he found the likes of Vier, Marsalis Simeon and Maurice Joseph, who each spotted up and hit crucial trifectas down the stretch.
Aside from senior guard John Boyer's six assists, most of Buffalo's buckets came from either the free-throw line or from sophomore forward Titus Robinson. The Bulls shot 20-26 from the charity stripe and Robinson scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, recording his first ever double-double. He was the only Buffalo player in double digits and did so in just 24 minutes of play.
Senior guard Rodney Pierce and sophomore guard Zach Filzen were standouts in the exhibition win against Daemen, but both had rough shooting nights. Together they went 3-for-24 from the field and forced too many contested shots. They each ended the game with just five points and two rebounds.
'Rushed shots became poor shots,' Witherspoon said. 'And then once we didn't establish any rhythm, we weren't able to hit good shots.'
The Bulls will look to bounce back Thursday night as they visit the Navy Midshipmen and try to level out their record. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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