15-7, 6-4
Akron
16-7, 7-3
Bulls Fall At Akron, 75-72
2/7/2015 12:00:00β―AM | Men's Basketball
AKRON, OH – The University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, men's basketball team dropped a tough 75-72 decision at Akron on Saturday evening as the Bulls were unable to hold on to a slim two-point halftime lead. The loss drops the Bulls to 15-7 on the season and 6-4 in conference play.
The game was tight throughout as neither team led by more than nine over the 40 minutes of action. The Zips opened the game on a 20-11 run, taking their largest lead of the game with 12:14 left in the first half. The Bulls were able to answer though as they went on an 18-4 run to take a 29-24 lead with 7:33 left. Nine of the points in the run came from senior Xavier Ford. The five point lead turned out to be UB's largest of the game. The Bulls took a 43-41 lead into the break.
Akron opened the second half on a 7-0 run and never trailed over the final 20 minutes of play. However, the Zips were unable to pull away as a three pointer from Jarryn Skeete pulled the Bulls within one with 11:11 left. Akron was able to build an eight-point lead with 5:39 left, but the Bulls has one last run in them.
Trailing by six with just over a minute left, Ford converted on a three pointer to pull the Bulls within three. Following an Akron miss, Ford took another three-pointer attempt, but came up short. The Zips missed both free throws and UB had one last shot. A three from freshman Lamonte Bearden was just off the mark and a last second, off-balanced chance from Skeete missed as well.
"That is what a game between two teams fighting for the Division and the Conference should look like," said head coach Bobby Hurley. "I liked where we were going into the half and our offense was functioning really well, but in the second half we didn't play defense for those first five minutes and we really dug ourselves a hole."
Ford recorded his second double-double of the season as he led all scorers with 22 points and all players with 10 rebounds. Junior Justin Moss had his second straight 20-point night as he finished with 21 points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Shannon Evans added 13 points and four assists, while Bearden had 11 points and five assists.
Akron improved to 16-7 and 7-3 in the MAC as the Zips had five players in double figures led by 13 from Jake Kretzer off the bench.
UB will now play five of its final eight conference games at home beginning on Tuesday night vs. Toledo. Tip off is set for 7:00 pm.
