For the second straight game, the men's basketball team found themselves in double overtime, and for the second straight game the Bulls found themselves trailing as the final seconds ticked away.
The Bulls battled back and forth with Central Michigan (9-11, 4-4 Mid-American Conference), leading by as many as eight and trailing no more than five at any point during the game, but could not put it together in the end, losing by a score of 100-96 in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. on Saturday night. The Bulls have now dropped nine straight contests, with their last win on Dec. 22 against South Carolina Upstate.
Buffalo (6-14, 0-8 MAC) led by eight early in the game, and was in charge for a majority of the game, but a three-pointer by Central Michigan's Giordan Watson with only 39 seconds left in regulation forced overtime, tied at 71. Buffalo was unable to control Watson throughout the game, having finished the game with 34 points and eight assists.
"Giordan Watson consumes so much of your attention and your focus defensively. We had to do some things differently to try to just keep it from being strictly a one man show," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "I thought for the most part we hung in there and we attacked him...our hope was, of course, that he would wear down because he would have to play defense."
Buffalo shot only one three-pointer in the first half, a missed opportunity by sophomore guard Byron Mulkey with 3:38 left in the half. The team missed a whopping 14 free throw attempts in the game. Other than their poor free throw percentage and lack of three-point shooting in the first half, the Bulls had a good shooting day. They had a 45.5 field goal percentage for the game and also shot 45.5 percent from beyond the arc.
"We did some things well. What we have to do is get to a point where we can do them, and sustain our concentration long enough to repeatedly do them. We've got to get better at that," Witherspoon said. "We got some input from a number of different people, and we have got to continue to do that."
Leading the Bulls offense was junior guard Andy Robinson, who finished the night with 22 points, including a last-second three-pointer in the first overtime to tie the game at 84 and force the second overtime. Also having a big game for the Bulls was sophomore guard Rodney Pierce, who finished the game with 21 points.
Two Buffalo forwards reached career highs in the losing effort as well. Junior forward Brian Addison, in his second consecutive start, scored a career-high eight points. Sophomore forward Max Boudreau finished with 12 points and five rebounds. It was Boudreau's second straight game with at least 10 points.
The Bulls and Chippewas went back and forth all game. There were a total of 13 lead changes and the game was tied 21 different times. A layup by Marcus Van of Central Michigan would mark the last time the lead would change as the Chippewas went up 89-87 with 2:35 left in the second overtime. A clutch three-pointer from Central Michigan's Chris Kellerman put the Chippewas up by five points with a minute left, setting the stage for a second consecutive double-overtime loss for the Bulls.
"The mood is similar to what it was in our last game...I think they realized that we did some things that we needed to do better," Witherspoon said. "We need to convert some of the lay-ups we had right in the paint in the latter part of regulation and in both overtimes. We really got good looks at the basket. We executed, I thought, pretty well."
The Bulls continue their road trip on Tuesday, Feb. 5 when they travel to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies (5-15, 2-6 MAC). Tip-off from DeKalb, Ill. is set for 8 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
