There hasn't been much to love about the play of the men's basketball team this season. But on the eve of St. Valentine's Day, Buffalo gave fans a sweet treat to salivate over at Alumni Arena when Mid-American Conference leader Kent State came to town for a matinee matchup.
Struck by Cupid's arrow, Buffalo (14-9, 7-5 Mid-American Conference) downed the Golden Flashes (18-8, 9-3, MAC) on Saturday afternoon, 70-55, for its third straight victory.
Behind a team-high 18 points from senior guard John Boyer and 15 from senior forward Calvin Betts, the Bulls put on an impressive defensive display in front of a sea of pink in the arena stands and a national television audience on ESPNU.
'I don't know who would have come in here and won today with the way Buffalo played,' said Kent State head coach Geno Ford. 'They defended us really physically, they were up in passing lanes and they got to the offensive glass pretty well. They were sharp and played at a level where they were going to win regardless of who was in here. We could've played fairly well today and would've lost – that's how well I thought they played.'
Kent State entered Saturday's contest riding a season-high eight-game winning streak – one that started when it manhandled Buffalo 89-54 in mid January. On the other hand, the Bulls had dropped five of their previous eight games and had fallen from the top of the MAC East. After the embarrassing loss at Kent, Buffalo set out to prove it could compete with the MAC's best.
It didn't take Buffalo long to quiet the naysayers.
After giving up the first three points of the game, Buffalo jumped out to a 14-3 lead behind the hot shooting of Betts and senior guard Rodney Pierce. The captains combined for 10 points as the Bulls shot 66 percent from the floor during the 14-point run.
'We were a step slow the whole game, but in the first ten minutes we were extremely poor,' Ford said. 'You have to give them credit; they were sharp and maintained a high level of play throughout the game.'
Buffalo executed its game plan immediately following tip-off. Having struggled defensively for much of the season, head coach Reggie Witherspoon spent the week getting his team back to the basics on defense. By controlling the tempo of the game offensively, Buffalo's defense was able to force Kent State into arid shots and uncharacteristic turnovers.
'I think when we control the pace and tempo of the game, I think we have more energy to defend,' Witherspoon said. 'Likewise, I think it puts more stress on our opponent because they're going to have to defend us for more than 10 or 11 seconds [per possession]. We showed that we can lockdown and get teams stopped. We're back to having a love for the defensive end of the floor.'
Before Saturday, Kent State had committed just 12.5 turnovers per game. In the first seven minutes of the opening half, the Golden Flashes turned the ball over seven times – including four traveling violations. They finished the first half with 12 total turnovers, shot just 32 percent from the floor and went 0-for-5 from behind the 3-point line.
Kent State got within seven points with 11 minutes left in the first half, but that was as close as the game would get. The Bulls' lead reached 14 with less than eight minutes to go after senior guard Sean Smiley sank his only 3-pointer of the game. Strong shooting and stingy defense gave the Bulls a 33-19 halftime lead.
Betts led the Bulls in the first half with 13 points. He shot an astounding 83 percent from the field and went 3-for-4 from 3-point land. Pierce added nine points, while senior guard Sean Smiley added five off the bench.
With its game plan running flawlessly, Buffalo continued to wear down the MAC's best team in the second half.
Buffalo's defense forced Kent State to commit its 13th turnover of the afternoon on the first possession of the half. Shortly thereafter, sophomore guard Titus Robinson gave ESPNU its highlight of the night after an emphatic slam dunk that ignited Alumni Arena.
Boyer took the game into his own hands on the following possession. He extended the Bulls' lead to 17 after hitting his first 3-pointer and went on to score 10 of Buffalo's next 12 points. His jumper with 12:52 remaining gave the Bulls their largest of the game at 49-29.
The Golden Flashes cut the Bulls' lead to 11 with 1:48 left, but Buffalo put the game out of reach in the final minutes with clutch free-throw shooting. Buffalo went 13-of-15 from the line in the second half and finished the game 18-of-20.
Kent State's comeback effort was plagued by turnovers and poor shooting. The Flashes committed seven second-half turnovers to total a season-high 19 giveaways. Buffalo went 11-of-20 (55 percent) from the floor in the second half, while the Flashes finished the game with a 34.5 percent shooting percentage (19-of-55). Kent State went just 4-for-21 from 3-point territory and shot a miserable 61.9 percent from the charity line.
Chris Singletary led Kent State with 18 points and eight rebounds. The senior guard also added eight rebounds and three steals in the losing effort.
Pierce finished the afternoon with 14 points and eight rebounds. He also went 8-of-9 from the free throw line and added three assists in 32 minutes of action. Senior forward Max Boudreau added eight rebounds while sophomore forward Mitchell Watt had four of the Bulls' six blocked shots.
'I thought it was an opportunity for us to come in and play against a team that's been running through the conference pretty good,' Witherspoon said. 'There have been a number of things we've been trying to work on and get better at and this was an opportunity for us to test some of those things. I think we responded well.'
With the win, Witherspoon moved into a tie with Malcolm S. Eiken for third place in program history with 140 wins.
Buffalo concludes its three-game homestand on Wednesday night when Bowling Green (13-11, 6-6 MAC) visits Alumni Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
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