Thomas’ Double-Double Not Enough As Falcons Lose To Buffalo

Thursday, January 14

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Buffalo

January 14, 2010 | Men's Basketball

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Photo Gallery
Boxscore
Scott Thomas Postgame Audio
Louis Orr Postgame Audio

Bowling Green, Ohio – Buffalo's Sean Smiley knocked down a 25-foot three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left as the Bulls edged the Bowling Green State University men's basketball team 68-65 Thursday night in venerable Anderson Arena.

Smiley's shot came after Bowling Green had scored five in a row to tie the game and was his fourth three-pointer of the game and third of the second half. Buffalo never trailed in the second half though the Falcons almost overcame a nine-point halftime deficit.

Sophomore Scott Thomas scored a career-high 21 points for Bowling Green and added 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. With the Falcons trailing late 65-60, Thomas hit a three-pointer with 1:15 to play that cut the deficit to two. Buffalo's Rodney Pierce, who equaled Thomas with 21 points, missed a three-pointer with 42 seconds left and Dee Brown grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He calmly connected on both charity shots to tie the game with 39 seconds left.

Buffalo chose to run the clock down and Smiley knocked down a long three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left. Joe Jakubowski's running heave as time expired was off-target and the Bulls escaped with a hard-fought road conference victory.

The first half was close throughout but Buffalo scored the final eight points of the period to take a 38-29 lead into the locker room. Bowling Green slowly cut into the deficit and got within one on an Otis Polk free-throw with 12:27 to go but the Bulls answered with a Calvin Betts lay-up and a Smiley three-ball to push the lead back to six.

That cat-and-mouse game continued for the remainder of the contest but Bowling Green was unable to tie the score until Brown's free-throws with 39 seconds left.

Bowling Green had just 10 turnovers for the game and made 24-of-32 free-throws, getting to the line 14 more times than Buffalo. BGSU asserted itself inside and held a 26-18 lead in points in the paint but Buffalo's bench was strong, outscoring the Falcons 22-8.

Along with Thomas' 21 points, Brown finished with 13, making all four of his free-throw attempts. Polk had seven points and six rebounds, snapping a string of 10 consecutive games with at least seven boards. Jakubowski added nine points and four assists and Erik Marschall had seven points.

Buffalo improves to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in MAC play with the win. Bowling Green falls to 7-7 overall and 0-2 in league play. The Falcons will look for their first conference win Sunday when they play at Kent State at 2 p.m.