Men's Basketball
The men's basketball team got open shots throughout Wednesday night's game. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they just weren't able to knock them down.
Buffalo (16-10, 8-6 Mid-American Conference) was soundly defeated by Akron (21-8, 11-3 MAC), 77-67, at the James A. Rhodes Arena during the Zips' senior night. With the loss, the Bulls snapped a five-game winning streak. Even with the loss, the Bulls remain in fourth place in the MAC and are in position to clinch a bye into the MAC Quarterfinals.
Buffalo was doomed from the start as the Zips led by double digits for the majority of the game. They jumped out to an 18-2 lead during the first eight-and-a-half minutes of the game as the Bulls hit just two of their first 17 shots.
Head coach Reggie Witherspoon believes that Buffalo's inconsistent shooting truly hurt.
'I don't know when was the last time we had that many open jump shots,' Witherspoon said. 'We've had games where we missed shots, but I don't know if we had games where we missed more open shots.'
Akron, on the other hand, was knocking down jump shots left and right, hitting 52 percent of their tries from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 69 percent from the free throw line. The team was led by junior guard Steve McNees, who finished with 15 points.
Unfortunately, Buffalo couldn't keep up with Akron's strong shooting. The Bulls were inaccurate from the field, and at one point missed four-consecutive open shots. They finished the game shooting 34.4 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.
The Bulls shot even worse in the first half, hitting just 28 percent of their shots from the field, allowing the Zips to increase their lead to as much as 20 points on strong shooting and sound defense. The two teams headed into the locker room with the score 39-23 in favor of Akron.
The Bulls outscored the Zips by six points in a lively second half, but their effort wasn't enough.
'Obviously, we didn't start the game very well,' Witherspoon said. 'We had guys playing the entire second half, but we dug ourselves into too big of a hole and we have no one to blame for that but ourselves.'
That hole, according to Witherspoon, began with the mishaps in the first few minutes of the game. He observed many opportunities to score easy baskets.
'We had guys open for layups,' Witherspoon said. 'And [the team] tries to do something different than shooting open shots, then we ended up shooting jarred shots.'
The Bulls were led by senior guard Rodney Pierce, who scored 19 points, all of which came in the last 20 minutes of play after an abysmal first half.
Senior forward Calvin Betts got his seventh double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Senior guard Sean Smiley finished with 12 points, and senior forward Max Bordeaux rounded out Buffalo's double digit scorers with 10 points.
Despite these contributions, the Bulls seemed hesitant all game long.
'Even in the first half, we had guys that were so wide open,' Witherspoon said. 'They were just wide open and missed shots. After a while, we started aiming and missing layups.'
Akron's win tied it with Kent State at the top of the MAC East and helped it clinch a first round-bye in the MAC tournament.
The Bulls' defense seems to be a concern as they approach the playoffs.
'Akron [ended] up shooting 52 percent,' Witherspoon said. 'So I'm really unhappy with the defense. We didn't play physical enough and that's a problem. If [the team] doesn't stand up for themselves, we got problems.'
The Bulls play their final home game of the season against Ohio. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Women's Basketball
Junior forward Kourtney Brown became the nation's top offensive rebounder with 157 offensive boards on the year after recording five on Wednesday night, but the Bulls suffered their 20th loss of the year against Bowling Green.
For the fourth-straight game, Buffalo (7-20, 3-11 Mid-American Conference) fell in an 81-64 defeat to the Falcons (22-6, 12-2 MAC), who clinched a first-round bye in the MAC tournament with the win. The Bulls have now dropped eight of their last 10 contests and sit in the cellar of the MAC East standings.
It didn't take long for the meager 309 fans in attendance at Alumni Arena to recognize that Bowling Green was the far superior team of the evening. The MAC East-leading Falcons went on an 8-0 run in the first 1:40 behind the shooting of Tamika Nurse and Jen Uhl.
Early on, the Bulls would not let Bowling Green run away with the contest. Sophomore guard Brittany Hedderson hit a 3-pointer to pull the Bulls to within four at the mid-way mark. But following a timeout by Falcons head coach Curt Miller, Bowling Green scored 16 of the next 21 points – including an 8-0 run – to take a 29-16 advantage.
Nurse extended the Falcons' lead to 15 after knocking down a shot from behind the arc, but the Bulls scored eight of the next 10 points to cut the lead to 34-25. Four Brown free-throws cut the margin to seven with three seconds to go, but Tracy Pontius hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the visitors a 45-35 lead at the half.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the half. Buffalo shot just 46.4 percent while the Falcons went 16-for-37. Though Buffalo hit 3-of-5 from behind the arc, they could not contain Bowling Green from the perimeter as the Falcons shot 7-of-13 from 3-point territory. The visitors also converted 11 points off both turnovers and second-chance opportunities.
Coming out of the intermission, the Falcons did not waste any time putting the Bulls away. Bowling Green took a 60-41 lead with 13:26 to go after jumping out to a 15-6 run.
Buffalo staged one last attempt at a comeback against the brown and orange. The Bulls went on a 10-point run to close the gap to nine behind back-to-back 3-pointers by junior forward Jessica Fortman and Hedderson.
But as they had done all game, the Falcons responded with an 8-0 run of their own to take a 17-point advantage. Two 3-pointers from Falcon senior Sarah Clapper took the wind out of the Bulls' sails as Bowling Green never trailed by less than 15 in the final eight minutes of the game.
Nineteen Buffalo turnovers turned into 23 Bowling Green points on the night. Though the Bulls outscored their opposition 34-20 in the paint, Bowling Green received 24 points off the bench compared to Buffalo's 15.
Brown recorded her 16th double-double and 10th 20-point game of the season as she led Buffalo with 20 points on 70 percent shooting from the floor in 34 minutes of action. She led the team with a game-high 11 rebounds and currently sits third in school history for most rebounds in a season with 306. Her 712 career boards are now ninth in school history.
Fortman added 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, while Hedderson added 11 points of her own. In her first career start, sophomore forward Beth Christensen finished with nine points, five rebounds and a career-high four blocks.
Buffalo will travel to Ohio on Saturday for its final road game of the regular season. Matinee tipoff with the Bobcats is slated for 2 p.m.
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
