Season over in a flash

Chance after chance and rebound after rebound, the men's basketball team saw No. 1 seed Kent State out-hustle and outplay the Bulls in a 76-67 loss in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals Thursday night.

Buffalo came out strong with an 8-4 lead, but Kent State whittled away the deficit with a 13-0 run in just over three-and-a-half minutes. Buffalo never led again, while Kent State bolstered its lead to 19 in the second half, and then came within four points twice in the last two minutes.

"The second half, I think they came out and jumped us good," said Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We didn't respond until we got into a deep hole and then we fought."

With 8:31 remaining in the game, Buffalo began a 19-4 run in the next 6:49 to bring the score to 67-63, sparked by a five-point play.

Freshman guard Eric Moore hit a three-pointer as junior center Yassin Idbihi was fouled by Kent State's Kevin Warzynski away from the ball. The referees originally waved the shot off but after a video review, the Bulls were awarded the three points and Idbihi was sent to the line for two shots.

The Golden Flashes won the game due largely to a solid effort in crashing the boards. Kent State out-rebounded Buffalo 42-29, including 16 offensive boards for the Flashes.

"I think the game came down to what took place around the basket and we weren't able to sustain enough toughness to win," Witherspoon said. "We got badly out-rebounded."

Kent State was able to convert those offensive rebounds into points, getting 16 second-chance points.

"We're a good basketball team when we rebound the ball," said Kent State head coach Jim Christian. "Their lineup of (Parnell) Smith, (Mario) Jordan, and Idbihi, that's three very physical guys. We had to neutralize (Calvin) Cage and keep them off the backboard."

Kent State's rebounding ability was complimented by Bulls' mistakes.

"We were missing easy lay-ups inside," said senior guard Roderick Middleton. "When you give a team three, four shots at the basket, you're tiring yourself out. They were on offense most of the game and we were playing defense and they just kept getting extra shots. If we made our lay-ups and boxed out, it's a whole different game. We beat ourselves tonight."

Idbihi led the Bulls in both rebounding and scoring. The 6-foot-10-inch junior dropped in 16 points to go along with a game-high eight boards. Senior guards Calvin Cage and Middleton ended their Buffalo careers with 15 points each.

Middleton went into halftime shooting 50 percent but made just one shot in the second half. Cage, on the other hand, shot a disappointing 31.2 percent for the game, including just 1-of-9 from three-point range

"Guarding Cage, he's one hell of a player. Coming off the screens and chasing him around," said Kent State senior guard DeAndre Haynes. "Our goal was to come in and stop Cage. He's a hell of a player and can come in and hit big shots for them."

Cage said he was frustrated by Kent's game plan.

"I had a real difficult time getting into the game, getting into a groove," Cage said.

The Golden Flashes game was keyed primarily by junior forward Armon Gates' hot shooting. Gates dropped in six shots from beyond the arc en route to a game-high 19 points. Kent State had three other players in double-digits on the night. Senior guard Jay Youngblood scored 12 points for Kent State and seniors Haynes and center Nate Gerwig scored 10 each. Sophomore forward Mike Scott led the Golden Flashes in rebounding with six.

Buffalo was once again plagued by its lack of depth. Every starter except for junior forward Parnell Smith played over 30 minutes. The Bulls also got only nine points from its bench, compared to 19 for Kent State.

Kent State advances to the semi-finals of the tournament. The Golden Flashes' opponent will stem from Thursday night's late game between Ohio and Miami (Ohio).

Cage scored 592 points in his senior season, just four points short of the UB record for points in a season.

The senior class of Cage, Middleton, and senior forward Mario Jordan came into a program four years ago that was struggling and tried to do what they could to turn it around.

"Each year we just kept getting better and better and improving our win total," Middleton said. "We didn't get 20 wins this season but we were right there with 19. I think overall we didn't do what we set out to do, but looking back, it was still a pretty good career."

Cage agreed with Middleton's sentiments.

"It didn't end the way that I wanted it to, but I have no regrets," Cage said. "It's been a long four years but we fought for everything and came a long way. We helped turn a program around. Everything happens for a reason and life goes on."