Bulls Exorcise The Demons, Hand DePaul Their First Loss Of The Season

Sunday, December 8

Chicago, IL

5 pm

6-3,0-0MAC

DePaul

9-1,0-0Big East

Buffalo

DePaul

Bulls Exorcise The Demons, Hand DePaul Their First Loss Of The Season

12/8/2019 8:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CHICAGO, IL - The University at Buffalo men's basketball team knocked host DePaul from the ranks of the unbeatens on Sunday afternoon as the Bulls defeated their BIG EAST foe, 74-69. The victory improves Buffalo to 6-3 on the season with a five-game homestand on deck and is their first win over a BIG EAST opponent since 2007.

The difference in the game was a stretch at the end of the first half and into the early stages of the second where UB scored 18 straight points, leading by as many as 19 in the ball game. DePaul scored the first four points of the contest, which would end up being its largest lead of the contest.

Trailing 10-9, the Bulls scored seven straight to take a 16-10 lead. DePaul again took a four point lead at 28-24 with 4:42 left, but the rest of the first half was all UB. Buffalo hit three triples over the final 2:45 of the half and got a monster dunk from Jayvon Graves as Buffalo went on a 13-2 run into the break, including scoring the last eight.

The Bulls came out firing in the second half, scoring the first 10 points, eight of those coming from Graves, who hit a pair of threes to take a 47-30 lead as DePaul called timeout. A jumper from redshirt freshman LaQuill Hardnett gave the Bulls their largest lead of the ball game at 56-37 with 12:48 left.

The host Blue Demons had one final run in them. They cut it to nine with 8:06 left before back-to-back threes from Graves and senior Davonta Jordan put the Bulls back up 64-49. However, DePaul would go on a 13-2 run, cutting the UB lead down to four with 1:42 left. Buffalo, who was just 4-8 from the free throw line heading into the final minutes, made its free throws when they counted, hitting eight straight from the charity stripe to end the game.

A pair of free throws from sophomore Josh Mballa gave the Bulls a 72-64 lead with 18 seconds left, but DePaul hit a three and then stole the inbounds and laid it in to pull within 72-69 with just 6.5 seconds left. Sophomore Ronaldo Segu calmly sank a pair to close out the win.

"I can't say enough about the effort of these guys today," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "I thought our coaches and our scout team did an excellent job preparing us for success and the team went out there and executed the game plan against an outstanding DePaul team."

Graves led all scorers with 21 points as he went 8-of-14 from the floor and added seven rebounds. Segu had 14 points, scoring 12 of those in the first half.

Jordan flirted with a triple-double as the senior had 12 points, a career high nine rebounds, and eight assists. Senior Antwain Johnson was assigned DePaul's top scoring threat in Charlie Moore and he held him to eight points and forced eight turnovers. Johnson added nine points and three steals.

Mballa had just two points, but was dominant on the glass as he finished with a career high 14 rebounds, including six on the offensive end. The 14 boards were the most by a UB player since Blake Hamilton had 16 against Miami (OH) on March 10, 2016.

In his return to his hometown of Chicago, senior Gabe Grant finished with five points and six rebounds, while Jeenathan Williams added five points and three assists.

Hardnett had four points, while sophomore David Nickelberry finished with two points and two boards.

The Bulls held a commanding 53-40 advantage on the boards, their most rebounds in a game since they had 55 in the MAC Championship game last year.

UB forced 19 turnovers, the second highest total for DePaul this season, turning it into 21 points.

After playing six of the last seven games away from home, the Bulls open a season-long five-game homestand on Saturday when they host Army West Point at 2pm.