19-9, 10-6MAC
Kent State
19-10, 10-6MAC
Bulls Sweep Season Series From Kent State With 71-65 Victory
2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
KENT, OH – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, men's basketball team ended its road schedule on Saturday evening with a 71-65 victory at Kent State, sweeping the season series from the Golden Flashes. The Bulls have now won four straight against Kent St. The win improves the Bulls to 19-9 on the year and 10-6 in the MAC. The 19 wins tie their win total from last year.
The Bulls got out to quick start as junior Jarryn Skeete was feeling it from long range, scoring the first 12 points for the Bulls on 4-for-4 from behind the arc. 21 of the first 25 points for the Bulls came from Skeete and freshman Lamonte Bearden. UB opened a 10 point lead in the first half as a three pointer from Shannon Evans gave the Bulls a 28-18 lead with 8:40 left, but Kent State went on a 13-2 run to take a 31-30 lead, which was the Golden Flashes only lead of the evening. Back-to-back layups from Justin Moss and Will Regan gave the Bulls a 34-31 lead into the break.
UB opened the second half with a bang as a steal and a breakaway dunk from Moss, which was followed on an alley-oop from Evans to Xavier Ford forced Kent State to call and early timeout. Kent State pulled back within four at 43-39, when UB went on a 21-10 run, which was capped off on a three from Regan to give UB a 64-49 lead, its largest lead of the game with 4:34 left. The Golden Flashes were able to cut it back to four late in the ball game, but a pair of free throws from Evans sealed the deal.
"We got off to a really good start and Jarryn Skeete really got it going shooting the basketball and we put a lot of points on the board early against a really outstanding defensive team," said head coach Bobby Hurley. "Shannon and Lamonte played with a lot of heart tonight and they did a great job getting to the rim. Coming off a game where we didn't shoot the ball particularly well, it was nice to see us come back with this kind of effort, especially on the road."
The Bulls were led by their three guards, Skeete, Evans and Bearden, who combined for 49 points. Evans led all scorers with 21 points and six assists, as he went 8-of-11 from the field, including a pair of three pointers. Bearden added 14 points and five rebounds, while Skeete also finished with 14 points, 12 of those coming in the first half.
The Bulls had to work around foul trouble all evening as four players finished with four fouls, including Moss, who had six points and two rebounds in just 21 minutes. Ford added seven points and seven rebounds, while Regan had five points and six rebounds and Rodell Wigginton finished with four points and six rebounds.
UB shot 26-of-52 from the field, including 14-of-25 in the second half, while shooting just over 44% from three in the game. The Bulls held a 37-34 advantage on the boards.
Kent State falls to 19-10 with the loss and is now tied with UB at 10-6 in the MAC, but the Bulls currently have the tiebreaker. The Golden Flashes were led by 19 points from Devareaux Manley and 18 points and 10 rebounds from Jimmy Hall.
This is the first time in the series history that UB has won four straight games from Kent State. This is also the first time this season that UB has won four straight games, with three of those coming on the road.
UB will host the final two regular season games beginning on Tuesday night when the Bulls welcome Ohio to Alumni Arena. Tip off is at 7:00 pm.
