KENT, OHIO – Buffalo and Kent State battled into double overtime before the visitors from Western New York pulled away in the second extra session for a 104-98 victory Friday night at the MAC Center.
With the victory, Buffalo (18-9, 9-5 MAC) picked up its . . .
Junior Jayvon Graves had a career high 33 points, with 30 of them coming after intermission. His floating layup with 4:29 remaining in the second overtime gave Buffalo the lead for good.
In addition to Graves, three other UB players reached double figures. Davonta Jordan added 20 and Antuwain Johnson had 18 (going 6-of-12 from the floor). Sophomore Josh Mballa came off the bench to score 13 and pull down 14 rebounds.
Kent State (17-10, 7-7) suffered just its third home loss of the season, while dropping its fourth contest in the last five games.
“Buffalo made more plays than we did in the end.” KSU head coach Rob Senderoff said. “It was a great college basketball game.”
Junior Antonio Williams scored a career high 34 points. Anthony Roberts added 23 and Troy Simons had 15. C.J. Williamson notched 12 off the bench, while Phillip Whittington had 10
Recent games between the two Eastern Division rivals have been close and intense. This one was no different.
Both teams exchanged the lead in the early going before the Flashes used a 14-4 run to open a 26-17 lead at the 8:44 mark when Williams connected on a short jumper in the lane.
The lead grew to a dozen (35-23) at the 2:57 mark when Williams converted an alley-oop slam dunk and KSU held a six-point lead at halftime
Buffalo started the second stanza with a 7-2 spurt to close the margin to 41-40 with 17:30 remaining. However, the Flashes responded and opened a nine-point lead, 64-55, when Williams scored on a driving layup at the 13:17 mark.
Buffalo battled back with a 14-4 run to take its first lead since the midway of the first half. It was a 69-68 game after Johnson converted a pair of free throws.
From that point on, the game was extremely close. In fact, over the last 6:11 regulation and two overtimes, there were seven ties and nine lead changes. Overall, the game had 13 ties and 17 lead changes.
UB held an 82-79 lead when sophomore Jeenathan Williams converted a slam dunk with 48.2 seconds remaining in regulation. That set the stage for Roberts, whose trey with 26 seconds remaining sent the game into overtime.
UB held a 93-91 lead in the first overtime when Mballa scored on a slam dunk. However, Simons' driving layup with 33.2 seconds remaining sent the game into yet another extra session.
In the second overtime, KSU held a two-point lead after a floating layup in the lane by Williams at the 2:28 mark. However, Graves connected on a three from the top of the key to give UB the lead for good.
Graves, a former Akron St. Vincent-St.Mary basketball standout, was playing in front of family and friends. His previous career high was 28 earlier in the season against St. Bonaventure.
Jordan cemented the lead with a three from the left arc sending the Bulls to victory and a regular-season split against the Flashes.
“One team goes home happy and one team goes home sad”. Senderoff said
NOTES:
>> Both teams shot the ball exceptionally well, Buffalo going 47.3 precent from the field (35-of-74) while KSU was 50.7 percent (38-of-75)
>> UB won the battle of the boards 42-36. KSU had 48 points in the paint to 38 for UB.
>> Buffalo also had 15 second chance points to just eight for KSU and registered 25 points from the bench, with 13 coming from Mballa.
>> Kent State played without Danny Pippen, whose back locked up during the day, relegating him to the bench. The timing on his return to the lineup is uncertain.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday with Bufalo traveling to Ohio to battle the Bobcats while KSU remains at home to face Miami.