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THE BASICS
Score: Buffalo 88, Ohio 74
Location: Quicken Loans Arena -- Cleveland, Ohio
The Short Story: The No. 2-seeded Ohio men's basketball team (21-11) had five players scoring in double figures, but struggled to defend No. 3-seeded Buffalo from behind the arc as it fell in the semifinals of the 2016 Mid-American Conference Tournament by a score of 88-74 on Friday (March 11) at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

OHIO STARTERS: #0 Treg Setty, #2 Jaaron Simmons, #13 Kenny Kaminski, #33 Antonio Campbell, #35 Jordan Dartis

BUFFALO STARTERS: #0 Blake Hamilton, #1 Lamonte Bearden, #2 Willie Conner, #10 Jarryn Skeete, #34 Ikenna Smart

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Bulls shot 48.4 percent (31-of-64) from the field and 51.9 percent (14-of-27) from three-point rangeâ€"including a 7-of-13 mark in the second half. Buffalo also shot 75 percent (12-of-16) from the charity stripe.
• Ohio shot 40.3 percent (29-of-72) for the game and converted on 31 percent (9-of-29) of their three-point opportunities. The Bobcats shot 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the free throw line..
• Buffalo outrebounded Ohio by a 46-36 margin while the Bobcats held a 16-8 advantage in points off turnovers and a 14-8 advantage in second chance points. Ohio turned the ball over seven times while the Bulls notched 11 turnovers. 
• Junior forward Antonio Campbell (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting. The junior forward also added 11 rebounds -- including five on the offensive end -- in 36 minutes for the Bobcats.
• Redshirt sophomore guard Jaaron Simmons (Dayton, Ohio) recorded 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting and dished out a team-high eight assists to go along with two rebounds in 40 minutes of work.
• Redshirt junior forward Kenny Kaminski (Medina, Ohio) tallied 12 points and knocked down a pair of three-pointers in his 32 minutes. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists.
• Freshman guard Jordan Dartis (Newark, Ohio) scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range in 34 minutes.
• Redshirt senior forward Treg Setty (Maysville, Ky.) contributed 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting with eight boards in 27 minutes.
• Buffalo was led by a 22-point effort from junior wing Willie Conner, who shot 9-of-15 from the field. He also was 3-of-8 from three-point range, dished out four assists and two rebounds in 37 minutes.
• Junior wing Blake Hamilton scored 20 points for the Bulls, going 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range with five rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes..
• Sophomore guard Lamonte Bearden tallied 15 points, dished out a game-high nine assists, hauled in six rebounds and grabbed three steals in 37 minutes.
• Freshman forward Nick Perkins scored 14 points on 3-for-3 shooting from the perimeter, tallying five rebounds in 24 minutes.
• Buffalo maintained a 16-15 lead at the 9:28 mark of the first half. The Bobcats opened the game on a 6-0 run with a pair of baskets from Campbell and bucket from Setty. The Bulls responded with a 14-2 run to take a 14-8 lead, but the Bobcats clawed back with a pair of buckets by Campbell and a layup by Setty.
• The Bulls used a 13-3 run to take a 41-27 lead with 52 seconds remaining in the first half, using five points each from Bearden and Conner.
• Buffalo took a 41-29 lead into the locker room at halftime with Conner and Perkins leading the Bulls with 12 points each in the opening 20.
• Campbell led the Bobcats with 11 first half points and six rebounds.
• Both teams came out in the second half scorching, with the Bulls hitting each of their first four three-point attempts while the Bobcats sunk four of their first five opportunitiesâ€"including a pair of triples from Dartisâ€"to trim the Buffalo lead to 55-47 with 15:49 remaining in the contest.
• Ohio got within five on a Setty layup at the 14:35 mark of the second half, but the Bulls extended their lead to 62-50 with a 7-0 run with 11:58 remaining.
• The Bobcats trimmed the Buffalo lead to five with 6:54 remaining, but the Bulls went on a 12-2 run to bump their lead up to 79-64 with 4:03 left in the game.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
• The Bobcats are now 40-29 (.580) all-time in MAC Tournament play.
• The 'Cats are now 1-2 (.333) all-time under second-year head coach Saul Phillips in MAC Tournament play.
• The Bobcats are now 31-11 (.738) all-time against the Bulls -- including 1-2 (.333) in MAC Tournament play and 1-1 (.500) MAC Tournament Semifinal action. Ohio finishes 2016 2-1 against Buffalo after rolling to a 94-75 victory on Feb. 12 in Amherst, N.Y., then surviving the Bulls in overtime, 103-96, on Feb. 27 at the Convocation Center in Athens.
• Campbell recorded his 16th double-double of the year and 25th of his career. He finished in double figures in scoring for a team-high 27th time this year and 47th time in his career and tallied double-digit rebounds for the 18th time this season and 29th time in his career. He led the team in scoring for a team-high 15th time this season and in rebounding for a 26th time.
• Simmons has logged double-digit points 23 times this season. He finished with at least five assists in a game for the 29th time this year and led the team in assists for the 30th time.
• Setty notched his 20th double-digit scoring effort of the year and 22nd of his career while Dartis finished in double figures for the 13th time this season.
• Kaminski achieved double figures in scoring for the 18th time this year.

QUOTABLE
Second-year head coach Saul Phillips on the defeat and what it means for next year's team
"I think we can build on a lot of things. I'm not one of these guys where I'm going to write the score on my office wall, stare at it every day while I do pushups. I'm not that kind of guy. Or get the score tattooed on my knuckles or anything like that. No, no, no, no, no. Let's not get crazy about it. It stings because it stings. But we made great progress this year. And we still have flaws. Those flaws are the fact that we threw this team together pretty quickly in the grand scheme of things. So you identify where you're weak and where you need to fill in and you go out there and you do that. You've got to understandâ€"I love this team. I did. We were flawed from a footspeed standpoint, from a physical strength standpoint. But boy oh boy could we put that ball in the hoop. And we shared the ball and we were unselfish."

Junior forward Antonio Campbell on Buffalo's offense
"It was frustrating. We couldn't clamp our heels down and get stops. They were 32 percent on the season from three and they came out and shot the lights out."

Redshirt sophomore guard Jaaron Simmons what Buffalo did differently compared to the first two matchups
"They played a lot better ball-screen defense, especially in the first half. In the first half, they did a lot of flat hedges and then in the second half, ball-screen actions started working for us and they were kind of confused on what to do. So I felt like in the first half they did a good job with ball-screen defense and got us out of a rhythm."

UP NEXT
Ohio will learn its 2016 postseason destination in the coming days.

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