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University at Buffalo
19-9, 13-5MAC
Bowling Green
12-19, 6-12MAC
MAC EAST CHAMPIONS: Bulls Dominate BG For Senior Day Victory
3/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BUFFALO, NY - Off a career-high 34 points from senior Javon McCrea, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team became MAC East Division Champions on Saturday, defeating Bowling Green, 88-65, in front of 5,452 fans for Senior Day. The Bulls improved their record to 19-9 and finish conference play with a school-record 13 victories. The Bulls will open up MAC Tournament play on Thursday evening in the quarterfinals.
After a pre-game celebration of UB's five-member senior class, head coach Bobby Hurley started all five seniors: Corey Raley-Ross, Auraum Nuiriankh, Joshua Freelove, Jarod Oldham and McCrea. The Bulls even got an early three-pointer from Nuiriankh. The Falcons never led by more than two in the contest, which they held with 15:24 left before the Bulls answered with a Shannon Evans three pointer. The Bulls ended up going on a 12-4 run to open up a 20-14 lead. The Bulls had their biggest lead of the half right at the end, going into the break up 41-31.
The second half turned into a show that the season-high crowd won't soon forget. The Falcons cut the lead into single digits at 48-39, but the Bulls answered with an 11-1 run, which was capped off on an unbelievable fast-break dunk where Evans passed the ball off the backboard and sophomore Justin Moss slammed it home. A layup from Evans with 9:32 left gave the Bulls a 66-42 lead, but the Falcons cut into the lead, trimming the Buffalo advantage to 71-58. However, a layup from McCrea ignited an 11-1 run, which put the Bulls up 82-59 with 2:57 remaining. UB went on to score the final six points of the game, with the final exclamation point coming on a put-back dunk from Moss.
"To win the first division title in school history; I am just excited and proud of these guys, especially this group of seniors," said Hurley. "Today they made my job on the sidelines very easy. Its been an honor to coach this group and we are excited to go to Cleveland this week."
McCrea reached a new career-high with 34 points, including hitting his first ever three-pointer on Senior Day. He went 13-for-18 from the floor and 7-of-10 from the free throw line. McCrea now has 1,997 points as he will enter the MAC Tournament just shy of 2,000 for his career. McCrea also added four assists, one block and two steals. McCrea was one of four players to finish with four assists on the day.
Sophomore Jarryn Skeete finished with 11 points on three made triples and four assists, while Freelove had 10 points and three rebounds. Evans finished with nine points, four assists and three steals, while Oldham had eight points, five rebounds and four assists.
Junior Will Regan came off the bench for the first time this season, giving his starting nod to the seniors. He finished with eight points and three steals off the pine.
Nuiriankh finished with three points and a rebound, while Raley-Ross also recorded a board and an assist.
As a team, UB turned it over just five times, while combining for 20 assists. The Bulls also shot just under 50% for the game, but 54.8% in the second half. The Bulls shot 18-of-23 from the free throw line.
Bowling Green, which will be the #10 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, was led by 19 points and 11 rebounds from Cameron Black.
The Bulls will now have a bye during the first two rounds of the Mid-American Conference Tournament and won't play until Thursday evening at approximately 9:00 pm. On UB's side of the bracket are first round games for #6 Eastern Michigan vs. #11 Central Michigan and #7 Northern Illinois vs. #10 Bowling Green. Visit UBBulls.com for updated information on MAC Tournament through out the week.
