The victory improves Buffalo to 20-7 on the season and 12-2 in MAC play. UB also clinched one of the top four seeds in the upcoming conference tournament and will have a bye straight to the MAC Quarterfinals in Cleveland.
For the sixth . . .
The Falcons, who came into Friday night's game winners of four of their last five, held an 18-14 lead with 12:29 left when the Bulls went on an 11-2 run to take a 25-20 lead and they never looked back.
The Bulls led by just three at 32-29 when junior CJ Massinburg scored five straight on one possession to put Buffalo up by eight. He hit a layup and was fouled, but Massinburg missed the free throw and tracked down his rebound in the corner and drained a triple to give Buffalo the 37-29 lead.
UB continued to lead and was up 37-31 when the Bulls scored 11 straight points including three straight three pointers from Jeremy Harris, Massinburg, and capped off by junior Dontay Caruthers. Another three, this time from Nick Perkins with six seconds left, gave Buffalo a 51-36 lead into the break.
Bowling Green opened the second half on an 11-1 run as it pulled within five at 52-47. The Falcons got as close as three with 13:56 left, but Harris answered with a big three pointer.
With Bowling Green down just 57-53, the Bulls went on another run, scoring nine straight points to go back ahead by 13. That run was capped off on the first of two thunderous alley-oop dunks from freshman Jayvon Graves, who added another one with 7:45 left to give Buffalo the 75-62 lead.
Bowling Green pulled to within five with 6:09 left, but Harris drained another big three as UB scored seven straight points.
The Falcons answered again as a pair of free throws pulled them within six at 82-76 with 4:06 left, but Buffalo scored five straight to go up 87-76 with 3:17 remaining and BG never got any closer than nine. The Bulls hit their last four free throws to seal the deal.
"I was really happy with our offensive play getting 24 assists on 33 made baskets," said head coach Nate Oats, who has won 20 games for the second time in three seasons as Buffalo head coach. "We talked about turning the ball over less and getting it back into single digits, so I was happy with that, and I thought our guys shot the ball well. They are getting in the gym and putting shots up and the leadership on this team is really good, so I never have to worry about that."
Massinburg led the Bulls with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while adding five assists and not turning it over. He went 6-of-13 from the floor, hitting three triples while also finishing 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
Perkins added 22 points off the bench as he went 9-of-17 from the floor and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Harris added 19 points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
Senior Wes Clark added 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while not turning it over.
Freshman Justin Turner paced the visiting Falcons with 23 points.Junior forward Demajeo Wiggins recorded his third straight double-double, notching 13 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman forward Derek Koch narrowly missed his own double-double with 12 points and nine boards.
NEXT:
Both teams return to action Tuesday. BG hosts Akron, while
The Bulls will be at Miami. Both games tip at 7 p.m. ET