Saturday, January 9
Buffalo, NY
5 P.M.
Ball State University
4-5,2-2MAC
69
at
86
Buffalo
4-3,2-1MAC
1
2
F
Ball St.
31
38
69
Buffalo
33
53
86
Buffalo Shoots Past Cardinals In Second Half
January 09, 2021 | Men's Basketball
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A two-point game at halftime went Buffalo's way Saturday night as the Ball State men's basketball team dropped an 86-69 decision at UB's Alumni Arena. Buffalo shot 9-for-17 from 3-point range in the second half to pull away.
K.J. Walton led Ball State with 17 points and seven rebounds while Luke Bumbalough scored 14 points with a team-best four assists. Buffalo had five double-digit scorers led by Josh Mballa with 19 points and 19 rebounds. Buffalo finished the night with 11 made 3-pointers and 25 offensive rebounds (11 by Mballa). Buffalo also had 29 points off turnovers.
TURNING POINT:Â With Ball State within 33-31 at the half, Buffalo opened the second period with a 14-3 run that featured three dunks and two lay-ups and from there was able to manage a double-digit lead. A lob from Mballa to Jayvon Graves for a dunk made it 47-34 with 11:56 left and 40 seconds later it was a 58-40 lead for Buffalo.Â
STRAIGHT FROM THE COACH: "Give credit to Buffalo - their physicality overwhelmed us and I was surprised at their conditioning (considering they'd been inactive for three weeks). We had an 8-10 minute stretch where the game got away from us," head coach James Whitford said. "Buffalo looked good. And offensive rebounding was the story of the game. We missed a lot of the guys we had out, and we look forward to getting some numbers back."
BUFFALO AFTER THE BREAK: After shooting 2-for-12 from deep in the first half, Buffalo got on a roll by making nine treys and scoring 19 points off turnovers in the second half. Â
SOME CAREER HIGHS: Teemu Suokas gained some valuable point guard experience Saturday night. The freshman from Finland had career highs in minutes (23) and points (5). Ben Hendriks scored eight points on 4-for-4 shooting and two dunks. Hendriks is now tied for the team lead with three dunks. Josh Bryan made his first appearance in a game for Ball State, playing 11 minutes.
"Teemu had a really nice first half, and you can tell he can be a good player," Whitford said. "Josh did a nice job for us and I really thought a guy who doesn't play a lot who did a nice job was Ben. He's a gifted offensive player with great hands."
FIRST CAREER START: Playing in his 61st career game at Ball State, Zach Gunn made his first career start and played 20 minutes. Gunn scored a season-high 10 points and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.Â
UP NEXT: Ball State has another challenge right around the corner, traveling to Bowling Green Tuesday night. Bowling Green currently sits atop the conference with a 5-0 record in league play.
Â
K.J. Walton led Ball State with 17 points and seven rebounds while Luke Bumbalough scored 14 points with a team-best four assists. Buffalo had five double-digit scorers led by Josh Mballa with 19 points and 19 rebounds. Buffalo finished the night with 11 made 3-pointers and 25 offensive rebounds (11 by Mballa). Buffalo also had 29 points off turnovers.
TURNING POINT:Â With Ball State within 33-31 at the half, Buffalo opened the second period with a 14-3 run that featured three dunks and two lay-ups and from there was able to manage a double-digit lead. A lob from Mballa to Jayvon Graves for a dunk made it 47-34 with 11:56 left and 40 seconds later it was a 58-40 lead for Buffalo.Â
STRAIGHT FROM THE COACH: "Give credit to Buffalo - their physicality overwhelmed us and I was surprised at their conditioning (considering they'd been inactive for three weeks). We had an 8-10 minute stretch where the game got away from us," head coach James Whitford said. "Buffalo looked good. And offensive rebounding was the story of the game. We missed a lot of the guys we had out, and we look forward to getting some numbers back."
BUFFALO AFTER THE BREAK: After shooting 2-for-12 from deep in the first half, Buffalo got on a roll by making nine treys and scoring 19 points off turnovers in the second half. Â
SOME CAREER HIGHS: Teemu Suokas gained some valuable point guard experience Saturday night. The freshman from Finland had career highs in minutes (23) and points (5). Ben Hendriks scored eight points on 4-for-4 shooting and two dunks. Hendriks is now tied for the team lead with three dunks. Josh Bryan made his first appearance in a game for Ball State, playing 11 minutes.
"Teemu had a really nice first half, and you can tell he can be a good player," Whitford said. "Josh did a nice job for us and I really thought a guy who doesn't play a lot who did a nice job was Ben. He's a gifted offensive player with great hands."
FIRST CAREER START: Playing in his 61st career game at Ball State, Zach Gunn made his first career start and played 20 minutes. Gunn scored a season-high 10 points and tied for the team lead with seven rebounds.Â
UP NEXT: Ball State has another challenge right around the corner, traveling to Bowling Green Tuesday night. Bowling Green currently sits atop the conference with a 5-0 record in league play.
Â
Team Stats
BSU
UB
FG%
.433
.390
3FG%
.294
.379
FT%
.706
.550
RB
39
53
TO
19
15
STL
6
12
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
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