Central Michigan University
Buffalo
Men's Basketball Hands Buffalo its First Home Loss
1/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2006
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A stifling first-half defense and a 13-1 run to start the second half allowed Central Michigan University to build up a 22-point lead against Buffalo on Saturday before the Chippewas held on for a 71-61 win.
The loss snapped Buffalo's 13-game home court winning streak while it was CMU's first road win of the season. The Chippewas improve to 3-12 overall, 1-6 in the MAC, while Buffalo falls to 13-4, 3-3 in the MAC.
The Chippewas held the Bulls to 17 first-half points on 22 percent shooting as CMU went into the halftime break with a 10-point advantage, 27-17. An alley-oop dunk by Sefton Barrett on the first possession of the second half and three straight treys by the Chippewas took the crowd of 4,533 in Alumni Arena out of the game.
But, Buffalo's Mario Jordan was called for a technical foul with 14:06 remaining and that ignited the Bulls and the crowd as the home team made a push to get back in it.
UB used a full-court press that forced several turnovers and senior Calvin Cage scored 10 straight Buffalo points as the Bulls went on runs of 8-0 and 9-0 to cut the Chippewa lead down to three, 49-46, with 8:54 to play.
Three-pointers by Aaron Richie and Chris Kellermann allowed CMU to push it back up to eight points and the Bulls wouldn't get within four the rest of the way as Giordan Watson and Barrett iced the game by hitting 10-of-11 free throws down the stretch.
"We started both halves with a lot of confidence," coach Jay Smith said. "We were able to hit shots early and we've been struggling to do that on the road this season. Richie and Kellermann hit huge shots for us and Watson and Barrett were aggressive and got to the line down the stretch.
"I thought we showed some aggressiveness today and took the punch to them. Recently we've been using up a lot of energy trying to get back into games but we jumped out of the gates well. We've got guys stepping up for us now and this is a good road win."
Watson finished with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists while draining a career-high tying four three-pointers. Barrett had his second double-double in the last three games with 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
Also scoring in double figures for the Chippewas were Eddie Spencer with 11 points and Chris Kellermann with 10. Both players also grabbed five rebounds each.
Buffalo was led by Cage's 25 points but he fouled out with three minutes left.
CMU shot .417 (20-for-48) from the floor and .450 (9-for-20) from three-point range for its best percentages on the road this season.
The Chippewas also won the battle of the boards, 38-33.
CMU heads to Ball State on Tuesday to face the Cardinals before returning home to host Mid-American Conference West Division-leading Northern Illinois on Thursday and Western Michigan on Sunday.
NOTES:
- There were a combined 54 free throws in the game as CMU took 28 and Buffalo 26. The Chippewas shot .786 from the stripe to Buffalo's .577. Watson was 11-for-12 and Barrett 10-for-14.
- In the last three games, Barrett is averaging 15.7 points and 11.3 rebounds. He's had a double-double in two of games and was one rebound shy against Akron.
- The matchup pitted the top two offensive rebounding teams in MAC action against each other. Both teams were above their MAC average in the game with 14 offensive boards each.
- The two teams will meet again in Rose Arena on Feb. 11.
- Barrett's double-double was the third of his career and all three have come on the road.
