Box Score
Feb. 27, 2010
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo men's basketball team overcame a 10-point deficit with less than seven minutes remaining to nip visiting Ohio 72-69 Saturday evening at Alumni Arena.
Ohio was powered by double-double efforts from D.J. Cooper (12 points, 11 assists) and Kenneth van Kempen (16 points, 10 rebounds). Cooper also added eight rebounds. Buffalo improved to 17-10 overall and 9-6 in the Mid-American Conference, while Ohio dropped to 16-14 and 6-9 in the league. It was also the ninth consecutive win on Senior Day for the Bulls.
"This was not for lack of effort tonight," Head Coach John Groce said. "We competed and for 30 minutes of this game I thought you could consider us the better team on the floor. We just did not execute at the beginning and end of the ballgame."
The Bulls were led by Rodney Pierce's 26 points (11-17 FG) and five steals, while John Boyer added 16 points, 13 in the second half, and seven assists. Jawaan Alston had a team-high six rebounds.
"Rodney Pierce was the best player on the floor tonight," Groce said. "He's been a great player these last couple of years and we're finally glad to see him go because he played great for them tonight and made big shots down the stretch."
The Bobcats outrebounded Buffalo 35-28, but their 19 turnovers turned into 15 Buffalo steals.
Trailing 15-12, Ohio went on an 11-2 run, seven from Cooper, to go up 23-17 with 10:06 in the half. They would maintain the lead for the remainder of the stanza and took an 11-point lead on a three-pointer by Tommy Freeman with 4:32 remaining. Buffalo managed to score the final five points before the break to cut the lead to 44-38.
KVK and Armon Bassett each had 10 points to lead the Green & White at intermission. The team as a whole shot 55 percent and drilled five three-pointers while going a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe. Pierce led Buffalo with 15 points as the Bulls shot 48.6 percent for the half.
The second half went back-and-forth as Buffalo quickly cut the deficit to one only to see Ohio respond and hold a seven-point advantage with 14:59 to go. Once again, Buffalo trimmed the lead to one wth 11:08 to go before an 8-0 Bobcat run, five from DeVaughn Washington, pushed the lead to nine, 59-50, with 8:59 remaining.
The lead hit 10 for Ohio with 7:46 on the clock and Buffalo was forced to take a timeout. An 14-4 Bull run was capped by a Pierce three-pointer with 2:23 left that tied the score at 67.
With 40 seconds to go, Bassett hit a cold-blooded jumper from the free-throw line for a two-point lead for Ohio. However, Pierce hit a trifecta on the other end out of a timeout to answer and give Buffalo their first lead of the second half, 70-69 with 28 seconds on the clock.
The Bobcats return home this week for their final regular season game. The contest will be against Bowling Green on Thursday, March 4 at 7 p.m. inside the Convo. Prior to tip-off, the team will recognize their seniors in a small ceremony.
