Bulls Fall In Overtime At Syracuse

Saturday, December 19

Syracuse, NY

6:00 pm

3-3,1-1MAC

107

Syracuse

6-1,1-0ACC

OT 1

Buffalo

Syracuse

107

Photo by: Rich Barnes

12/19/2020 9:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SYRACUSE, NY – The University at Buffalo men's basketball team led by as many as 16 points at ACC foe Syracuse on Saturday evening, but the Bulls were unable to hold on, being outscored 20-9 in overtime as the Bulls fell to the Orange, 107-96. The loss evens Buffalo's record at 3-3 on the year.

Buffalo held an 11-point lead at the break and that ballooned to a 16-point advantage before Syracuse began to comeback. The Orange used a huge advantage at the free throw line as Syracuse went 32-of-42 from the charity stripe, opposed to just 9-of-13 for UB. Over the final 25 minutes, the Orange went to line 30 times, while the Bulls only managed to get there five times.

Junior Jeenathan Williams had 10 points for the Bulls right out of the gate as UB opened a 15-12 lead. However, Williams played just over five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.

Leading by just one at 22-21, the Bulls went on a 17-4 run, which included six points from junior Josh Mballa and triples from Ronaldo Segu and Jayvon Graves, which put the Bulls ahead 39-27 with 4:58 left. UB went on to take an 11-point lead into the break.

Syracuse would cut it to nine early in the second half before the Bulls went on a 7-0 run as a layup from Graves gave the Bulls their largest lead of the night at 57-41 with 16:34 remaining. The Orange would begin to chip away over the final 10 minutes.

The Bulls led by eight with just over seven minutes left when an 11-3 Syracuse run tied the game up. There were four ties over the final four minutes of action, ultimately sending the game into overtime. UB forced OT as Segu drained a three-pointer with 15 seconds left, and UB would ultimately have a chance at the end, but a Graves dunk attempt was blocked, sending the game into the extra period tied at 87-87.

It was all Syracuse in the extra five minutes as they scored 20 points and led for the entire overtime period, extending the lead to as many as 13 late in that period.

"I thought we competed hard and that was one of our goals whether it was 40, 45 or 50 minutes and for the most part we did that," said assistant coach Angres Thorpe, who was serving as acting head coach. "In the second half we missed a few shots and kind of lost our confidence and didn't move the basketball like we were in the first half and to Syracuse's credit they stuck to their game plan and they did a good job of getting to the free throw line and crashing the offensive glass."

Mballa led the Bulls with a career high 27 points, while adding seven rebounds. Graves had 22 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and four steals as he filled out the stat sheet in over 40 minutes of action.

Williams added 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Segu finished the night with 13 points and six dimes.

Senior Keishawn Brewton added 10 points, while David Nickelberry finished with three points and LaQuill Hardnett had two points and four boards.

The Bulls finished the night with 22 assists on 39 made baskets. The 39 made field goals are the most in a game since Nov. 11, 2019 against Nazareth. The 96 points scored by Buffalo is the most in a game against Syracuse since Duke scored 97 on Feb. 1, 2020.

UB continues its road trip on Tuesday at St. Bonaventure. Tip off is set for 4pm at the Reilly Center.