Former Buffalo standout Turner Battle once wore the No. 11 as the Bulls' Superman, but Wednesday night, a different No. 11 turned out to be the men's basketball team's kryptonite.
Central Michigan guard Giordan Watson donned those digits for the Chippewas, on his way to a career-high 34 points and an 80-74 Chippewa victory over the 10th seeded Bulls in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament.
"I think we just weren't aggressive enough early on offensively and Watson played a great game," said Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "He made some great decisions and he shot the ball great. You have to give him credit."
The Bulls nearly fought off Watson's effort with a stellar second half in which they shot 62.5 percent from the field and more than doubled their first-half point total.
However, Buffalo was doomed by poor free throw shooting and a first half in which they only managed 23 points, as many points as Watson scored in the same frame.
"Well first you just got to try to get over the screens that they set," said sophomore guard Andy Robinson. "You just got to be a tough player to defend (Watson). He's quick and the main thing you try to do is maintain on him."
During the second-half comeback, the Bulls were beset with some unfortunate circumstance that left them without the services of senior forward Yassin Idbihi for most of the second half. Idbihi fouled out with over eight minutes left in the second frame with only five points and two rebounds, far below his season averages of 15.2 and 9.5, respectively.
"This was not your prototypical Yassin Idbihi game," Witherspoon said. "This is one of the worst games he's played. He's done so many terrific things for us and I don't think he's had a game all year long where he's had five points and two rebounds but we figured that if this game got to be a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust game and if it started to resemble more a football game than a basketball game that it was going to affect Yassin because that isn't his style or temperament."
Witherspoon was not happy with some of the officiating during the game, particularly a debatable technical foul on junior forward Andrew Atman that Witherspoon said he received no explanation for.
"I'm still waiting for that explanation," Witherspoon said. "I'm still waiting for that one, still waiting for the possession arrow. The possession arrow was in our favor and the ball went to Central Michigan at a crucial time. I'm sure they're honest mistakes, but nonetheless they're still mistakes...I'm not sure they're honest mistakes but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt."
Buffalo led early, 7-5, at the 17:01 mark, but Central Michigan proceeded to go on a 24-5 run that left the Bulls trailing 29-12 with 8:42 left in the half. The Chippewas went 8-16 from beyond the arc, and scored 15 points off 12 first half Buffalo turnovers.
The Bulls began their comeback with a lineup that consisted of five perimeter players, as they outscored Central Michigan by 15 points over the last 6:20 of the game.
"That speaks a lot to their work ethic," Witherspoon said, "and their mindset and the fact that they're not giving in and they didn't give in, they kept fighting...After a while I think the younger guys just threw all caution to the wind and just said 'Hey if we're going down we're going down fighting.'"
Buffalo was led by sophomore guard Andy Robinson and freshman guard Byron Mulkey. The duo combined for 46 of the Bulls' 74 points, finishing with 27 and 19 points respectively. With the mark, Robinson set a new career-high, breaking the previous mark of 25 he set against Ohio only a few days earlier.
Yet, a disappointing end to the senior seasons of forwards Parnell Smith, Idbihi, Barnard Onyenucheya, and guard Darwin Young couldn't back up the fine performances by Mulkey and Robinson.
"There are a lot of special memories," Idbihi said. "Starting from freshman year with the playoff game against Northern Illinois, the home game against Kent State, and the MAC tournament my sophomore year, and of course the Pitt game this year. There are a lot of memories I have and I'm very, very honored that I was able to play at an institution like this. I feel very lucky to have had that opportunity."
