Bulls Put On Defensive Clinic In 72-59 Win Over Ball State

Tuesday, February 18

Buffalo, NY

7 pm

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Ball State

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Ball St.

Buffalo

Bulls Put On Defensive Clinic In 72-59 Win Over Ball State

2/18/2020 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BUFFALO, NY – After allowing 88 points to Ball State just six weeks ago, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team allowed a season-low 59 points to the Cardinals in a 72-59 victory on Tuesday night in front of 4,044 fans. The win was Buffalo's third straight and it improves UB to 17-9 on the season and 8-5 in conference play.

Buffalo shot 32.9% from the floor, its lowest total in a victory since Nov. 11, 2014, but the Bulls turned it over just eight times, while holding Ball State to 59 points, its lowest total since the beginning of December. The eight turnovers for UB tied a season low for a Ball State opponent.

In the opening half, the Cardinals threw the first punch as they took advantage of a struggling Buffalo offense. Six minutes into the game Ball State held a 12-2 lead, its largest of the night. UB chipped away a few times, but the Cardinals continued to lead by double figures at 25-15 with 6:32 remaining in the opening half.

The Bulls scored the next six points to pull back within four with 4:38 left, but Ball State again went back up by eight at 29-21 with 3:21 left. It would be the final points of the half for the Cardinals as the Bulls closed out the opening half on an 8-0 run. Senior Davonta Jordan got it started with a triple and fellow senior Gabe Grant closed it out grabbing a late offensive board and hitting a pair of free throws to send the teams into the break tied at 29-29.

Ball State held a 43-39 lead with 14:41 left, but the Bulls turned it on from there. A three-pointer from junior Jayvon Graves ignited an 11-3 run, capped off on a triple from Antwain Johnson to take a 50-46 lead.

The Cardinals cut the Buffalo lead to 50-48 with 8:02 left when the Bulls went on a game-changing 12-2 run to put the game away. One of the key plays during the run came when Jordan drilled a three and sophomore Jeenathan Williams was fouled under the basket, setting up a four-point possession for UB.

The Bulls would go on to lead by as many as 17 points with 65 seconds left on a jumper from Graves.

"Really good job by the guys tonight," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "I thought for the first 14 or 15 minutes of the first half we couldn't get anything going offensively, and it did affect our defense a little bit. We really closed the first half well and our energy was much better going into halftime. I like the way we started the second half and it was just one of those games where six felt like a big lead and then we just kind of took off from there."

The Bulls had five players in double figures, combining for 70 of their 72 points. Sophomore Josh Mballa had 16 points and 15 rebounds off the bench, including seven offensive boards. Mballa added three blocks and a steal.

Graves had his third double-digit rebounding performance in his last four games as the Malvern, OH native recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards. Williams also finished with 16 points on the night.

Johnson had 12 points, while Jordan had 10 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Sophomore Ronaldo Segu ended the night by dishing out four assists and finishing with a team-high in plus/minus.

UB was relentless on the boards all night as the nation's second-highest rebounding team added 51 more, including 19 offensive boards.

Winners of three straight, the Bulls will return to the road to begin a two-game road trip on Friday night in a nationally-televised game at Kent State. That game will tip off at 7pm on ESPN2.