When opportunity comes knocking, you'd better be there to answer it. Saturday night, at home against the Big Ten's Northwestern Wildcats, the Bulls held up a "Do Not Disturb" sign every time opportunity approached.
In the last 10 minutes of the men's game, the Bulls had 13 chances to either tie or take the lead against the Wildcats. With the exceptions of a Louis Campbell three- pointer that tied the game at 52 and a Campbell foul shot that knotted the score at 53, Buffalo faltered on all attempts, paving the way for the Wildcats to escape Alumni Arena with a 63-57 victory.
"It's disappointing. I think [the Wildcats] played good, but I truly think we were better, I truly do," said Campbell.
Certainly, the Bulls were not the better shooting team. Senior forwards Robert Brown and Darcell Williams did yeoman's work on the offensive glass, combining for 9 of Buffalo's 15 offensive rebounds. That led to 18 more field goal attempts than the visitor, but translated into only one more field goal.
While Buffalo shot 21 for 58, 36.2 percent from the field, the Wildcats were able to hit on half of their 40 attempts.
The defeat wasted an almost super-human effort by Campbell, who buried six three pointers - four in the second half - on his way to a game-high 26 points. Unfortunately, the senior didn't get much help. No other Bull reached double digits; freshman forward Mark Bortz came closest with nine.
Bortz returned nicely from a nagging knee injury that has sidelined him since December to put his nine points up in only 11 minutes of action.
Probably the Bulls best chance to tie the game late came with 1:16 left on the clock. Trailing 58-56, Bulls guard Gabe Cagwin stepped in and stole the ball away from Jason Burke to spark a two-on-one break with Campbell driving towards the basket. Cagwin elected to pull up and shoot a jumper from just inside the foul line, but the shot fell short, just grazing the rim.
Brown, trailing on the play, appeared to get another offensive rebound but was called for a loose ball foul on the play, sending Drew Long to the foul line.
Buffalo Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon defended his guard's decision to take the shot. "We tell our players: if you're open, shoot it, if you're not, pass it. That's a shot most players on our team make most of the time. Unfortunately, tonight he didn't."
With the Bulls in the double bonus, Long only hit one of two, putting the Wildcats up three and keeping it to a one possession game.
Cagwin then missed another chance to tie, on an open three from the wing with just under a minute left. That ended a night the senior would rather forget, going 0 for 6 from the field. He has now only scored seven points in his last six games.
A number of the 6,119 in attendance started heading for the exits at that point. While some fans may have given up, the players refused to die and had a glorious chance to pull to within one.
With Northwestern leading by four, Buffalo forced another Wildcat turnover and Bulls point guard Turner Battle drew a foul. After making his first attempt, Battle's second shot sat atop the rim for a second, before finally rolling off the iron.
The smallest guy on the court, UB's Davis Lawrence, raced in - seemingly out of nowhere - to emerge from a sea of black and purple with the rebound. Lawrence's short jumper went halfway down before it somehow rimmed in and out, and Collier Drayton finally collared the rebound - and the victory - for the 'Cats.
Northwestern's Tavaras Hardy won the battle at the four spot, getting 18 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulls' usually dynamic Williams was held at bay for the evening, scoring only four points, 13 below his average.
"They did a good job with their match-up zone, shading it to his side. He lost his rhythm and never really got in the flow of the offense," said Witherspoon
The Bulls (9-10) now have a losing record for the first time since dropping the opening game of the season on the road at Niagara. They hope to rebound in a pivotal conference game Monday against Northern Illinois, a team that used a Leon Rodgers buzzer beater to stun the Bulls 72-70 at the Chick Evans Field House on Jan 5.
It may be a little early to start talking about must-win games, but a victory against the Huskies could go a long way in righting the ship.
