12-5, 3-2MAC
Central Michigan
13-3, 3-2MAC
Big Second Half Leads Chippewas Past Bulls, 84-73
1/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MT. PLEASANT, MI – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, men's basketball team was outscored 46-28 in the second half on Wednesday night as the Bulls fell to the host Central Michigan Chippewas, 84-73. The loss drops the Bulls to 12-5 on the year and 3-2 in conference play.
Central Michigan entered tonight's contest as the second-highest scoring team in the country as well as second in three pointers and the Chippewas kept up that average as they shot 16-of-29 from behind the arc.
In the first half, the UB offense was on point, as juniors Justin Moss and Jarryn Skeete each had 15 points over the first 20 minutes, helping the Bulls to a 45-38 halftime lead. With the game tied at 15-15 early, the Bulls went on a 12-2 run as they took a 27-17 advantage.
Central Michigan cut into the lead and trailed by just three with 1:36 left when the Bulls went on a 7-0 run over the next 1:32, getting a three pointer from Skeete and an old fashioned three-point play from Moss with just four seconds left. However, CMU's Chris Fowler hit a long three as time expired to cut the UB lead to seven at the half.
UB scored the first two points of the second half to go up by nine, but that would be its largest lead of the half. A 12-4 run by the Chippewas to open the second half gave them the lead, which increased to six with 12:40 left. Central Michigan continued to build on its lead as it went 8-of-11 from three point range in the second half.
The Chippewas led by as many as 14 in the second half as they took a 69-55 lead with 8:15 remaining. The Bulls were able to get no closer than seven for the remainder of the contest.
"We didn't do a good job on their three point shooters, which I thought we did a good job with in the first half, and we lost a lot of their guys in the flow of the game," said head coach Bobby Hurley. "Defensively, this is not the type of performance you can have if you want to win on the road."
Moss led all scorers tonight with 26 points as he went 11-of-15 from the floor, while adding nine rebounds. Skeete added 15 points on four made three pointers, while Shannon Evans finished with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Freshman Lamonte Bearden had nine points and five assists, while senior Will Regan added seven points and a pair of boards. Senior Xavier Ford added four points and four rebounds off the bench.
Central Michigan improved to 10-0 at home and 13-3 on the season and 3-2 in MAC play. The Chippewas were led by 19 points from Braylon Rayson and 14 points and 10 assists from Fowler.
UB will remain on the road on Saturday afternoon when they face the Ohio Bobcats at 2:00 pm.
