If only every home game was Senior Night for the men's basketball team. For the seventh straight season, Buffalo came out victorious on the honorary night, beating Mid-American Conference foe Bowling Green, 96-50, on Tuesday night.
The Bulls (10-16, 3-12 MAC) recognized seniors Andrew Atman and Christian Schmidt before the game with a ceremony. Atman is currently injured, but entered the game with 30 seconds left. Schmidt started the game, scoring three points and getting two rebounds before re-aggravating a stress fracture in his foot that he has been dealing with all season.
"I told the team that this game is not just for the seniors," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "This is our last home game for all of us. It is the last chance for all of us to represent those seniors and ourselves on our home court and to display our perseverance after lots of ups and downs this season. You should just be worry free on senior night."
Bowling Green was coming into the game after a victory against MAC leader Kent State on Saturday night, 89-83.
"It was a little surprising to see Bowling Green beat Kent State," said junior guard Greg Gamble. "When they came in here, I felt a little disrespected that they thought they could just roll in here and have an easy win after beating a top 25 team. I tried to accept the challenge as the captain of this team and I think a lot of my teammates followed."
The Bulls jumped out to a quick lead right from the start of the game. A jumper by Gamble gave Buffalo an 8-2 lead two minutes into the first half.
Bowling Green got within two points at the 17:14 mark with a tip-in by Chris Knight. This would be the closest the Falcons got to the lead the remainder of the game.
Buffalo answered back with a 13-0 run, finished off with a Schmidt pass to sophomore forward Calvin Betts for a lay-up plus a free throw. The Bulls led 21-6 with 14:31 still left in the half.
After a three pointer by Bowling Green's Brian Moten, Buffalo responded with 12 consecutive points. Junior guard Andy Robinson hit two three's during the run, and freshman Jawann Alston hit a lay-up after pulling down an offensive rebound. Buffalo was up 33-9 with 10:50 to go in the half.
The Bulls forced 11 turnovers in the first half that led to 16 offensive points.
"We did a better job of running the floor, especially the post players," Witherspoon said. "This made it difficult for them to stop us."
Buffalo was in unfamiliar territory heading into the second half going in with a 52-26 lead.
"We have a better hold on the game when we have the lead," Mulkey said. "We aren't pulling too much and everything is flowing. The stops we were getting led to our offense and control of the game."
The Falcons came out strong in the second half, hitting six of their eight shots. The Bulls answered back every time, not letting Bowling Green close the gap and still held a 26-point lead, 65-39.
Buffalo scored the next seven points, sparked by a Mulkey steal on defense that led to a three pointer by Robinson. Robinson followed this play with a lay-up to push the Bulls lead to 72-39.
With the score 76-46 with 7:46 to go in the game, the Bulls closed the second half on a 20-4 run. Sophomore guard Sean Smiley hit a lay-up, a three pointer, and a pair of free throws in this span. A basket by Gamble would be the final score for the Bulls.
"The fact that we scored 96 points overshadowed that we played good defense," Witherspoon said. "We did a complete job defensively, making their first shots tough. We made it difficult for them to score, therefore, that led us to score 96 because they couldn't play as much zone and had to play more man to man."
The victory was the largest ever for the Bulls in MAC play.
The Bulls shot 50 percent for the game, hitting 38 of their 76 shots. Buffalo was 6-14 from behind the arc and 14-19 from the free throw line.
The Falcons were only 33 percent from the field and just 21 percent from three-point range. Bowling Green turned the ball over 21 times, compared to only 11 for Buffalo.
Gamble led the Bulls with 23 points on 8-10 shooting. He also grabbed four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Robinson contributed 18 points on 6-11 shooting, including 4-5 from three-point range and pulled down three rebounds and two steals.
Buffalo also got strong games from Alston and Mulkey. Alston recorded 13 points and had 6 rebounds, with 5 of them being on the offensive side of the court. Mulkey finished with eight points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds.
Buffalo will close out the regular season on Sunday, March 9 as they travel to face Ohio. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
