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ATHENS, Ohio -- Freshman forward Jason Carter (Johnstown, Ohio) tallied a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds, but the Ohio men's basketball team (18-10, 10-7 MAC) was edged by Mid-American Conference East Division rival Buffalo (16-14, 10-7 MAC), 83-79, on Tuesday (Feb. 28) at the Convocation Center.

Despite dropping their second game in a row, the Bobcats can still clinch a top-four seed in next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament presented by VisitMyrtleBeach.com.

"It's two games where I didn't think our execution was too great offensively," said third-year head coach Saul Phillips of his team's recent slide. "I thought we were impatient. It's also two games where I thought our energy level was great the whole night, and we played extremely hard. We just got to get back to sharing the ball. In the first half we had four assists. That's not us. Can't be us."



The Bulls led by five at the half and held a game-high 11-point lead with 16:16 to play after a dunk by redshirt senior forward Raheem Johnson made it 54-43 in favor of the visitors.

Buffalo held a 10-point advantage with just over 13 minutes to play thanks to layup by senior forward David Kadiri, but Ohio made it a two-point game at 73-71 with just over five minutes left thanks to a 16-8 run that was highlighted by eight points by Carter.

Unfortunately for Ohio, redshirt junior guard Jaaron Simmons (Dayton, Ohio) fouled out with 3:43 left after providing the Bobcats with 15 points and a team-high four assists over 34 minutes of work. A triple by senior guard/forward Willie Conner and a pair of layups by sophomore guard CJ Massinburg allowed the Bulls to go back up by six with 2:32 to go.

Sophomore guard/forward Gavin Block (Lincoln, Ill.) provided the Bobcats with five points in a two-minute span to make it a one-point contest with 18 ticks left on the clock. Ohio was forced to foul Buffalo redshirt sophomore guard Dontay Caruthers with 17 seconds left. Caruthers sank the first free throw but missed the second, and Ohio junior guard Mike Laster (Detroit, Mich.) came down with the rebound to give the Bobcats a chance to at least tie the game.

The Bobcats could not cash in on a pair of opportunities on their final possession though, with Caruthers blocking a layup by sophomore guard Jordan Dartis (Newark, Ohio) out of bounds and Carter missing a layup.

"I got to my right-hand hook, and it didn't give me a friendly roll," said Carter. "It's simple as that."



In addition to his near double-double, Carter added two assists and a steal in 31 minutes. He went 8-of-13 from the field. Carter has led the team in rebounds in 12 of the last 15 games.

Dartis shot 6-of-14 from the floor -- including 4-of-8 from three-point range -- en route to 18 points. He also logged four rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes.

"I thought Jordan did a fantastic job of getting us into good positions down the stretch," said Phillips.

Block recorded 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal over 30 minutes of work.

Conner and Massinburg each finished with 19 points to lead Buffalo. Massingburg went 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He also tallied five rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes. Conner shot 6-of-12 from the field, 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 3-of-4 from the line in addition to recording two rebounds in 36 minutes.

Kadiri went a perfect 7-of-7 from the field to finish with 14 points for the Bulls. He also grabbed a team-high six rebounds in 23 minutes.

Ohio concludes the 2016-17 regular season by hosting a Senior Day edition of the 'Battle of the Bricks' against MAC East Division archrival Miami (11-19, 4-13 MAC) on Friday (March 3) at the Convo. The opening tip is slated for 6:30 p.m. ET. The contest will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.

The RedHawks are coming off of 79-75 upset of MAC regular season champion Akron on Thursday at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Ohio and Miami met last Tuesday (Feb. 21) at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio, with the Bobcats coming away with a 79-62 victory in the first meeting of the season.

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