Strong Second Half Run Leaves Crimson Seeing Red

Saturday, November 16

Toronto, Canada

2:30 pm

2-1,0-0MAC

Harvard

3-2,0-0Ivy League

Harvard

Buffalo

UB Basketball - James Naismith Hall of Fame Classic

Strong Second Half Run Leaves Crimson Seeing Red

11/16/2019 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

TORONTO, ONTARIO – The University at Buffalo men's basketball team hit 8-of-14 from behind the arc in the second half as the Bulls rebounded from a slow start to defeat preseason Ivy League favorite Harvard, 88-76, in the opening game of the James Naismith Hall of Fame Classic played inside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The Bulls are now 2-1 with the victory.

Harvard opened the contest with an early 12-3 run as UB found itself down nine. However, a strong defensive effort from the Bulls never allowed the Crimson the opportunity to pull away and the Bulls cut it to one on a three pointer from Ronaldo Segu midway through the first.

Harvard would increase their lead back to eight, but a pair of free throws from sophomore Josh Mballa cut it back to two, capping off a quick 9-3 run. UB took its first lead of the half on a layup from sophomore Jeenathan Williams with 1:41 left and then Buffalo closed the half in style as junior Jayvon Graves hit a buzzer-beating three just inside half court, giving the Bulls a 40-38 lead at the break.

Harvard took a one-point lead early in the second half, but then senior Antwain Johnson started to heat up as he scored 16 points over the final 20 minutes of action. Leading 54-52, a Johnson triple ignited a 13-2 UB run in which the Bulls also got three pointers from Jayvon Graves and Davonta Jordan.

The Crimson were unable to get any closer than seven for the remainder of the game. Four straight points from Segu put the Bulls ahead 83-69 with 3:29 left and another three from Johnson gave UB its largest lead of the night at 88-73.

"I am proud of our guys," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "I thought we did a good job of hanging in there a little bit during the first 10 minutes. Harvard was really working the boards and we were stumbling a little bit, but then we kind of got our legs underneath us and we finished that first half really strong. I think the thing for us is that we are good shooting team if we move the ball and we had 20 assists tonight, which is really good."

The Bulls had four players in double figures led by Segu, who notched a career high for the second straight game with 21 points. He was 6-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 3-of-3 from three. Segu also added five rebounds and six assists, while turning it over just once.

Johnson scored a career best 19 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the arc, while Graves added 18 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Jeenathan Williams had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Jordan had eight points and seven assists, while Mballa finished with seven points, five boards, and four blocked shots.

After struggling from the free throw line in the first two games of the season, the Bulls shot much better from the charity stripe, going 13-of-15. Defensively, Buffalo forced Harvard into 17 turnovers. The Crimson also shot just under 37% from the floor and just over 26% from three point range.

The Bulls will now head down to the Charleston Classic which gets underway Thursday night. UB will face UConn on the opening day.