BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — The UB men are one win away from the NCAA Tournament. The Bulls, the no. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament, topped no. 3 Akron 81-74 in overtime in Friday's semifinal round. With the win, the Bulls will play for another MAC Championship and the conference's automatic bid to Indianapolis.
The Bulls took their first lead of the game [11-10] at the 15:32 mark of the first half and for the remainder of the half, never looked back. They led by as many as 10 and took a 33-28 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. UB found themselves down for the first time since the opening minutes and from there, engaged in a back-and-forth affair with the Zips with this one coming down to the wire. Holding a two-point lead with 19.1 seconds left, Jayvon Graves was called for an offensive foul. The Zips scored on their final possession to force overtime. In the OT period, the Bulls kicked things off with a 7-0 run and never gave that lead away, sealing the win and advancing.
Josh Mballa recorded another double-double of 16 points and 20 rebounds. Jeenathan Williams led the Bulls with 26 points while Ronaldo Segu finished with 18.
The Bulls will play no. 5 Ohio, who beat top seed Toledo earlier in the day, on Saturday at 7:30pm.
