Bulls Roll To 92-77 Victory Over Eastern Michigan

Thursday, January 21

Buffalo, NY

2:00 pm

6-5,4-3MAC

Eastern Michigan

4-6,1-5MAC

Eastern Mich.

Buffalo

Bulls Roll To 92-77 Victory Over Eastern Michigan

1/21/2021 5:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo men's basketball team snapped their two-game losing streak on Thursday afternoon as the Bulls dished out a season-high 27 assists in a 92-77 win over Eastern Michigan. With the victory the Bulls improve to 6-5 on the year and 4-3 in conference play.

The Bulls led for nearly the entire contest as UB shot 61.8% from the field, including 71.4% in the second half. It was Buffalo's highest shooting total since the 2016-17 season.

UB's defense was on point early as the Bulls allowed just four points over the first nine and a half minutes of play, racing out to a 17-4 advantage. The Bulls led by double figures for nearly the entire first half, with EMU pulling within seven late before Buffalo would take a 10-point lead into the break.

Both teams came out firing in the second half as the Bulls and Eagles combined for 105 points over the final 20 minutes of action.

The Bulls opened the second half on a 16-6 run as UB took its largest lead of the game on a jumper from Jayvon Graves with 15:25 left, give UB the 53-33 advantage. The Eagles would pull within eight on a 19-7 run, but the Bulls answered with five straight, as a three from Ronaldo Segu put UB back ahead, 67-54, with 8:20 left.

Eastern Michigan trailed 78-67 with 3:55 left when the Bulls used a 7-0 run to put the game out of reach.

"I thought we set the tone early on the defensive end and offensively we did a great job moving the ball with 27 assists," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "LaQuill and David Nickelberry gave us great energy off the bench, and we need to continue to get that bench production each and every game."

UB had five players in double figures led by Jeenathan Williams, who finished with 24 points, six rebounds, and five assists.

Segu added 19 points, as he was 5-of-7 from three, adding six rebounds and two assists, while LaQuill Hardnett had career highs of 13 points and five assists.

The five triples from Segu are a season-high for a Buffalo player this year and the most since Graves had seven at Kent State last year.

Graves finished with 12 points and five boards and Nickelberry had 10 points and four rebounds.

Junior Josh Mballa finished with four points, seven rebounds, and five assists, while senior Keishawn Brewton had eight points and four assists as he picked up his first start of the season.

The Bulls finished with 27 assists, the most by a MAC team this season, and the most in a game since they had 27 against Ohio in 2018.

UB will be off this weekend as it's originally scheduled game at Northern Illinois has been postponed. The Bulls will now be back in action on Tuesday when they host Central Michigan at Alumni Arena.