After a one game break from the monotony of losing, the Bulls found themselves back on the wrong end of the score against Bowling Green on Wednesday night.
After a win at home over Northern Illinois in which senior forward Yassin Idbihi scored a career-high 26 points, Buffalo was unable to sustain a consistent effort offensively and defensively over 40 minutes in a 79-73 loss to Ball State.
The Bulls (10-13, 2-8 Mid-American Conference) turned the ball over 20 times and committed 28 fouls in a game which saw Ball State (8-15, 4-6 MAC) rip off runs of 21-4 and 20-5.
The Falcons' pressure defense midway through the first half gave the Bulls a problem as they substituted often.
"Well first half we didn't do handle it (pressure) very well at all and that's where we had most of our turnovers," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We gave up 14 of our 20 in the first half and we became kind of a punching bag in those situations. We had ourselves stretched out. When fatigue set in we went and had a couple guys come in in extremely hesitant mindsets and that's when the defense got more aggressive."
Buffalo started the first half scorching-hot and scored seven unanswered points on their way to a 12-2 first half lead at the 15:04 mark. Freshman guard Byron Mulkey scored six of those points in his second straight start before leaving with two early fouls.
But the Bulls could not avoid the pit-falls they have fell victim to thus far this season. Three straight possessions produced three straight turnovers and Ball State went on a 21-4 run to take the lead 23-16 at 8:15 of the first half. The Cardinals' pressure defense forced 14 Buffalo first half turnovers and resulted in 20 points for Ball State.
Buffalo regained its composure and with Ball State leading 26-18, the Bulls went on a 9-2 run to reduce the Cardinals' lead to one, 28-27. However, Buffalo entered the half trailing 36-30 following back-to-back three point baskets by Ball State's Ahmaad Cook.
The second half started similar to the first with the Bulls on a 6-0 run. A lay-up by sophomore guard Andy Robinson off a feed from Mulkey tied the game at 42 with 14:57 left in the second half. Yet much like the first half, Ball State took back control of the game with a 20-5 run to increase their lead to 15 at 62-47.
The Bulls again fought back, this time with a 10-0 run capped by a three-point-play by Robinson to come within six at 63-57. But Ball State built its lead back to 10 and led 68-58 with 4:57 left before Buffalo brought the game within four at the 4:09 mark of the second half. That was as close as the Bulls would get the rest of the way.
Robinson led four Bulls in double figures with 14 in only 21 minutes. Idbihi posted a game-high 14 rebounds and was second on the team with 13 points but shot only 36 percent.
Ball State also had four players in double figures and was led by notorious Buffalo-killer Skip Mills. Mills led all scorers with 20 points and had eight rebounds and four assists. Including Wednesday night, Mills has scored at least 20 points three times in his career against the Bulls.
Buffalo played the game extremely hesitant at times, and for the first time since the Bulls faced off against Kent State on Jan. 10 the Bulls did not out-rebound their opponent.
"This is the first game in a long stretch of games where we haven't out-rebounded our opponent and that just comes down to aggressiveness," Witherspoon said. "It didn't come down to size or quickness or strategies or plays we were running, it just came down to aggressiveness and it didn't just show itself with the rebounds. There were other things we didn't do consistently enough. There were times when we attacked them and made them become fearful of us getting the ball down the floor fast enough and they did some things like try to get the ball out of Byron Mulkey's hands when he caught it and make him make an extra pass. The bottom line is the guys he passed the balls to became very hesitant in those situations."
The loss now drops Buffalo to 0-6 on the road in MAC play. In eight conference losses, Buffalo has turned the ball over 20 or more times in six of them.
"We're still trying to avoid mistakes," Witherspoon said. "This game has too much reaction to it to try to avoid mistakes. You have to be aggressive, but we're still trying to avoid those mistakes."
After playing three of their last four and five of their last seven on the road, Buffalo returns home for three straight games at Alumni Arena. The Bulls next play Saturday at Alumni Arena against Central Michigan. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
