3-210-8; MAC
Miami (OH)
0-56-12; MAC
Huge Second Half Leads Bulls To Road Win At Miami (OH)
1/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Blake Hamilton Post Game Video
OXFORD, OH – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York men's basketball team overcame a two-point halftime deficit and outscored the host Miami (OH) RedHawks 47-28 in the second half as the Bulls came away with a 77-60 win on Tuesday night at Millett Hall. The win improves the Bulls to 10-8 on the season and 3-2 in conference play.
The Bulls got off to a slow start and trailed for nearly the entire first half, but Miami was unable to stretch its lead to more than six, which it did with 7:19 left in the first half. The RedHawks continued to lead 23-19 when the Bulls scored five straight points, including a Jarryn Skeete three, which gave UB a 24-23 advantage. Miami regained a four-point lead, but junior Blake Hamilton hit a layup before time expired in the half to cut the deficit to 32-30.
A three-pointer from Hamilton ignited a 7-0 run to begin the second half, but Miami tied the game back up at 39-39. The Bulls led 49-45 with 13:34 left when they went on a 9-0 run, which included a big fast-break dunk off a steal from Hamilton and a three-pointer by freshman CJ Massinburg, giving UB a 58-45 lead with 11:02 left.
The Bulls continued to lead 60-50 when they went on a 13-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 73-52. The RedHawks were able to get no closer than 17 over the final 6:32 of action.
"Well the way we played in the second half was obviously better than in the first half where I thought we kind of slept walked through it," said head coach Nate Oats. "We had to light a fire under them in the locker room and the guys responded great."
Hamilton led all scorers with a career-high 22 points, going 7-of-12 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. He added nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. Massinburg finished with 13 points, while junior David Kadiri had 12 points off the bench. Freshman Nick Perkins added 10 points and six rebounds.
Junior Willie Conner had seven points and three assists, while Skeete added seven points, seven rebounds and four assists. Redshirt freshman Ikenna Smart finished the night with six points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
After shooting just 35.7% in the first half, the Bulls shot 51.4% in the second half. They also shot 75.0% from the charity stripe on the evening.
The Bulls did an excellent job defensively on Miami's leading scorer Eric Washington, who scored all 13 of his points in the first half. No other RedHawk player scored in double figures.
UB will remain on the road this Saturday when the Bulls travel to Kalamazoo, MI to face Western Michigan at 4:30 pm.
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