AKRON, OHIO – The Buffalo Bulls withstood a late charge by the Akron Zips to pick up a 76-70 win Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena.
With the victory, Buffalo (21-3, 10-2 MAC) collected its fourth win in the last five games and third consecutive victory over Akron (14-10, 6-5).
“We came out ... strong, but they (Akron) stayed in there. They made it hard for us, but we came away with the victory.” Bulls head coach Nate Oats said.
Senior CJ Massinburg led all scorers in the contest with 21 points, going 11-of-12 from the free throw line, including hitting five-of-six in the final two minutes. Fellow senior Dontay Caruthers came off the bench to score 15 points, and Davonta Jordan had 12 with five boards
“We got what we deserved.” Zips head coach John Groce said. “ We didn’t play very well. I didn’t think our 'teamism' was good.”
Sophomore Loren Cristen Jackson led the Zips with 20 points. Junior Tyler Cheese added 16 with six rebounds, two assists and six steals. Senior Jimond Ivey had 12 with seven boards and four helpers.
Junior Daniel Utomi totaled 14 with five boards and three assists. In addition, his first basket -- a three-pointer from the top of the key -- pushed him over the 1,000 point total in Akron Blue and Gold.
Buffalo started the game strong, hitting three of its first four shots to take an 8-2 lead at the 17:36 mark on a steal; and a layup by Jordan.
UB would hold the lead until the Zips used a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the contest, 22-21, at the 8;17 matk on a short jumper off the glass by junior Deng Riak, who finished the game with eight points.
The lead then changed hands, but with UA leading 28-25 on a jumper from thew left wing by Cristen Jackson, Buffalo used a three fromn the left arc by Massinburg and a put-back by senior Nick Perkins to take a 30-28 lead at intermission.
Buffalo started to pull away at the start of the second half as they opened an eight-point advantage, 40-32, with 16:42 remaining when Perkins converted and and-one play. Perkins finished the evening with eight points but also pulled down nine rebounds.
“When we started not turning the ball over, we started to get some things done offensively.” Oats said.
The Bulls lead grew to as many as 12 on four occasions with the last being 57-45 with 7:18 remaining when Perkins hit a pair of foul shots.
UA just would not go away and began to slice away at their deficit, closing to within four, 62-58, with 3:23 remaining on a three from the top of the key by Ivey.
The lead was pushed back out to 10 (68-58) on a pair of Massinburg free throws with 2:02 remaining. However, the Bulls just could not finish the game as the Zips closed to 73-70 on a three by Utomi.
In the final seconds, Massinburg was fouled by Channel Banks. He made the first free throw and missed the second. Carruthers, however, grabbed the carom and scored on a put-back layup to seal the verdict for UB.
NOTES:
>> Both teams shot 50 percent from the field in the second half .Over the 40 minutes, Akron shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) while Buffalo was at 46.2 percent (24-of-52).
>> UB won the rebound battle 38-29 and had nine offensive rebounds, converting them into 11 points.
>> There were a total of 33 combined turnovers (18 committed by Buffalo).
>> The Zips failed to get a single point from their bench, while the Bulls had 28 led by Carruthers 15.
NEXT
Both teams return toi action over the weekend, with Buffalo finishing a two-game road trip in Toledo. It will be the second meeting between the two teams.
UA begins a two-game road trip Saturday at Ball State.