BUFFALO, NY The defensive struggles continued for the University at Buffalo men's basketball team as the Bulls fell to another hot-shooting opponent at Alumni Arena on Monday night. Western Michigan shot 58.5 percent from the field to defeat the Bulls, 85-70.
Western Michigan (12-9, 4-4 MAC) made five of its first six shots and led the game from wire to wire. Trailing 23-14, John Boyer connected on a three-pointer and Max Boudreau followed with a conventional three-point play to cut the lead to three. However, Western Michigan closed the half on a
14-5 scoring run to take a 47-33 lead at the break.
The Broncos built their lead to 17 points before UB made a run. Rodney Pierce scored 12 of the Bulls' next 14 points, including three three-pointers. His layup cut the lead to 57-47 with 13:26 left. However, the Broncos responded with a 14-2 scoring run to take a 73-51 advantage, their largest of the game.
Pierce led all scorers with 29 points. He surpassed Andy Robinson (2005-09) for 14th on UB's all-time scoring list with 1,035 points.
Calvin Betts had 10 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds for his 14 career double-double. Boudreau chipped in with nine points and five rebounds for the Bulls.
Martelle McLemore and David Kool scored 24 and 23 points, respectively, for Western Michigan. The pair combined for eight of the Broncos' 11 three-pointers. Western Michigan shot 11-for-22 from beyond the arc.
"Western came in here and gave us a good old-fashioned whoopin'," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We can say that they were hot - and that's certainly not a lie - but when they mix in shooting really well from three and getting to the basket when they want, then we have some issues."
The loss dropped the Bulls to 11-8 overall and 4-4 in the MAC. The Bulls will next head back out on the road and play at Central Michigan on Thursday night.
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