Buffalo Nails Ten Three-Pointers To Down Falcons 64-51

Wednesday, February 17

Buffalo, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Buffalo

Photo by: Doug Sampson

February 17, 2010 | Men's Basketball

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

Boxscore
Louis Orr Postgame Audio

Buffalo, N.Y. – Scott Thomas scored 21 points but the Buffalo men's basketball team made 10 three-pointers as the Bulls defeated Bowling Green 64-51 Wednesday night.

Thomas made 8-of-14 shots and added four steals but Buffalo rolled to a 35-20 halftime lead and weathered a run by the Falcons to start the second half.

As was the case against Miami just three days earlier, Bowling Green fell behind by double-digits at the half but got back into the game with a big run. In Sunday's win over Miami, the Falcons overcame an 11-point halftime deficit by scoring the first 14 points of the second half. This time, Bowling Green fell behind 35-20 at the break but used a 14-2 run to start the second stanza to battle back.

Dee Brown, Otis Polk, and Erik Marschall scored in succession to get the deficit to 10 at 37-27 with 16:46 to go and Marschall followed with another lay-up. Polk scored inside 27 seconds later to make it 37-31 and Thomas completed a three-point play with 15:12 to go that made it 37-34.

At that point, Bowling Green had three possessions with an opportunity to get even closer but came up empty each time. Finally, Buffalo's John Boyer knocked down a three-pointer and the Bulls went on a shooting spree. On the Bulls' next three possessions, Pierce hit a three-pointer and Smiley knocked down two more to put Buffalo on top 49-38 and the Falcons never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

For the game, Buffalo attempted 25 three-pointers, more than half of the team's 45 total shots. The Bulls made five in each half while Bowling Green was just 1-of-9 from downtown for the game.

Bowling Green again ran an effective second-half offense, shooting 59 percent from the field. The Falcons grabbed 11 offensive rebounds from a physical Buffalo team but Bowling Green turned those extra possessions into just four second-chance points.

Polk finished with a double-double, posting 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Brown had seven points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Buffalo improves to 15-9 overall and 8-5 in MAC play. Bowling Green falls to 13-12 overall and 6-7 in league action and the Falcons will host Valparaiso in a non-conference game for ESPN BracketBusters Saturday at 2 p.m.