In front of 2,176 fans on Friday night at the Koessler Athletic Center, the Bulls answered the question many men's college basketball fans in Western New York were wondering: which Division I program was the better?
The Bulls were able to defeat the Golden Griffins, 72-69, in a game that was decided in the last 30 seconds of action.
Heading into the match up, the Bulls (1-0 overall) were 1-1 in season openers against Canisius (0-1 overall). The Bulls had a few question marks going into the game as they only returned three starters this season and suffered key losses in the backcourt. Also, the Bulls were without sophomore guard Sean Smiley, who was unable to play because of an ankle injury.
The Bulls' solution on Friday night came at the point guard position as Eric Moore led the Bulls with 20 points, which is a career-high for the sophomore. But the storyline of the game was the play of freshmen walk-on guard John Boyer.
"John (Boyer) has been playing well in practice and we wanted to give some of our younger guys an opportunity to play," said Bulls' head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "He's a gutsy kid and he doesn't back down."
Boyer was one of four walk-ons this season and provided the Bulls with seven points but more importantly forced the game-winning turnover with two seconds left in the contest.
The game went down to the wire after sophomore forward Greg Gamble bricked two free throws with 16.2 seconds left. The Golden Griffins got the back trailing 70-69.
Canisius was able to inbound the ball and call a timeout to set up a final play opportunity. Without two of their starters at this point in the game because of foul trouble and injuries, the ball was brought into play in the corner where Boyer and senior forward Yassin Idbihi put enough pressure on and forced a turnover.
The Griffins were forced to foul Boyer with 0.3 seconds left in regulation; the freshmen secured the win under pressure with two made free throws. Boyer, who clocked in with 10 minutes on the floor, had another clutch play with 7:27 left in the game and two seconds on the shot clock. He threw up a long shot, and hit the three pointer off the backboard to put Buffalo in the lead, 62-60.
"I played very hard in practice and I just think everybody together played well tonight," Boyer said.
Not everything in the game was cheerful for the Bulls as they turned the ball over 24 times and were out rebounded by Canisius. However, the Bulls as a whole managed to knockdown 50 percent of their three point attempts.
"It was a hard-fought game and they played hard but it's so early in the season neither team was at its best and we could have played better," Witherspoon said, "but the intensity was great."
Buffalo at the end of the game had three players with double digit points. Idbihi finished with 20 points on 14 attempts. Two of those points came on a hard dunk in the first half that electrified the Bulls' fans that attended the game into a "This is our house" chant.
Gamble also had a solid game. He played 37 minutes and scored 10 points with eight blocks.
The Bulls integrated the talents of freshmen guard/forward Calvin Betts into their game plan. Betts came off the bench for the Bulls and scored five points in 17 minutes of playing time. Betts was an outside threat and was able to score hit one three-pointer on four attempts.
"We knew all along how hard they play," said Canisius head coach Tom Parrotta. "We want our program to get where they are, they are a winning program and history shows it."
It is Parrotta's first year as head coach of the Golden Griffins, who were led by Darnell Wilson and Corey Herring who each scored 17 points. Canisius also shot 81.3 percent from the free throw and shot 43.6 percent in the paint.
Following Saturday's victory, the Bulls will now play six games in the first 12 days of the season. Buffalo will next travel to South Florida on Monday at 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
