by Buffalo completed a dominant regular season and now postseason to punch their ticket to the big dance. The Bulls defeated the BGSU Falcons tonight 87 – 73 to advance to the NCAA Tournament starting Thursday.
Jeremy Harris bounced back from a rough Friday night to dominate the championship tilt. Harris finished with an impressive 31 points, including 4 of 8 from long range, 13 of 20 overall. CJ Massinburg chipped in with 17 points, as did Jayvon Graves. The Bulls will be a mid-range 5-8 seed in the tourney, maybe even higher depending on how it all plays out.
Buffalo used a beautiful inside and out game to build a 26-13 lead halfway through the opening frame. Jeremy Harris with that left-handed layup could not be stopped, and paced them with 8 quick points. Harris would have a total 14 before the half was over. Head coach Nate Oats had to be happy with his team’s energy, something they sorely lacked the night before.
BGSU would not go away without a fight however, and battled back to cut the lead to 39-38 with 1:04 left in the first half. They forced multiple Buffalo turnovers during that stretch of climbing back into the game. The half would end by that same score.
Both teams exchanged three pointers to start the second half, and light the lamp for a competitive final 20 minutes. Harris remained red hot by scoring 8 of the Bulls first 11 of the half. The Falcons had an answer at every turn for a while, and it was 50 – 50 four minutes into the half. Frye for BGSU would continue to heat up, and one three ball later the Falcons led 53-50.
The Falcons remained in control, up 64-63 with 8 minutes to go as the BGSU faithful started to believe an upset was possible. The sleepy Bulls woke back up however and drained back to back three balls to recapture the lead at 69-65. They would build the lead to 72-65, from there it was all Bulls as they captured the Conference Championship victory.
The two split their regular season matchups. The Falcons draught now reaches 52 years without NCAA tournament play.
