Bulls Fall by Four to East-Leading Flashes

Buffalo's game Wednesday night at Kent State's M.A.C. Center can be described in a few ways.

First and foremost, it was "loud."

"That may have been about the loudest we've ever heard a crowd," said Bulls' head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "You literally couldn't hear the person right next to you."

Another word you could use to describe Wednesday's game was "important."

"When you play Kent State, I can tell you how big it was and how important it was," said Witherspoon. "But I don't think there was a whole lot I had to say to the players, because they understood."

In a thrilling game that saw only two lead changes and four ties, the Bulls (9-11, 5-7 Mid-American Conference) dropped the contest to the Golden Flashes (17-3, 11-1 MAC) by a score of 79-75.

Despite the disheartening loss, the scrappy Bulls came to play on the road, pleasing their coach against a team chock full of seniors.

"I think we played through some adversity on the road," said Witherspoon. "When everything didn't go right and we fought through some adverse moments, we had a chance to win the game at the end."

The score was 48-44 in favor of Kent State, when a 3-pointer from Jason Bird brought the Bulls within one. Kent State demonstrated why they are number one in the MAC, however, scoring another seven unanswered points.

UB had battled back to cut the lead to four points, and then Mario Jordan slammed the ball home for the Bulls to get them within two.

On the ensuing Kent State possession, Daniel Gilbert played stellar defense and wound up with a steal that led to a fast break, where he rocked the rim with authority to tie the game.

That was the closest UB came at sniffing the lead however, as Kent State turned up the heat, and melted away Buffalo's chance at victory, by causing turnovers with under four minutes remaining.

The Bulls next play on Saturday in Alumni Arena against the Central Michigan Chippewas (4-18, 1-11 MAC).

"Certainly if we rebound the ball the way we did against Kent State we will have a great chance to win," said Witherspoon.

Buffalo out-rebounded the Flashes by 18 on Wednesday night.

The Bulls may have to do that rebounding on Saturday without two of their top players: Mark Bortz, and Yassin Idbihi both sustained injuries late in the game against Kent State.

Bortz injured his knee, and Idbihi hurt his foot. Witherspoon does not know if they will be ready for Saturday's game.