Saturday, December 15
Buffalo, N.Y.
1 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
7-5
65
at
73
Buffalo
10-0
1
2
F
Southern Illinois
28
37
65
Buffalo
33
40
73
No. 14 Buffalo holds off SIU, 73-65
12/15/2018 | 7:57:00 | Men's Basketball
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The No. 14-ranked Buffalo Bulls remained undefeated with a 73-65 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena. SIU shot 49 percent from the field and held Buffalo to its second-lowest scoring game of the season, behind only SIU's defensive performance against UB at SIU Arena on Nov. 12, but SIU had 22 turnovers, and Buffalo's 17 extra field goal attempts were the difference.
"If we don't turn the ball over, we're a pretty good basketball team because we can guard," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "Today, we rebounded. I leave here today more encouraged than I have in a long time. I wasn't this encouraged coming out of SEMO or SIUE because we didn't guard. We guarded today and we competed. If we get everybody rolling on the same page, we have a chance to be pretty good."
In a game of runs, Buffalo (10-0) jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first half and a 20-point lead in the second half. Each time, SIU (7-5) answered with a big run of its own to get back in the game. SIU's offensive hangover from Wednesday's 80-52 loss to Murray State continued into the first 10 minutes of today's game, and Buffalo took advantage and ran out to a 29-10 lead. But this time, the Salukis responded with an 18-4 run to close the half and bring the game within five points at halftime, 33-28.Â
"I give them a lot of credit; they easily could have folded," Buffalo head coach Nate Oats said. "They got beat at home by a pretty good Murray State team. After they got down 19 in the first half, they could have easily quit. They stayed in it, fought and fought, cut the lead. We had to fight and claw to get a win there at the end."
Again in the second half, Buffalo started on fire, jumping up 59-39 with 10 minutes to play. SIU responded to that with an 18-5 run to get within seven points with four minutes to go, but the Bulls held on to secure its best start to a season since 1930-31 and win their 17th-straight home game.Â
"I was proud how we competed today. I thought we competed our tails off at times," Hinson said.
Buffalo center Nick Perkins had game highs in both points (20) and rebounds (11), and he got both Kavion Pippen and Thik Bol into foul trouble, but reserve center Rudy Stradnieks played arguably his best game of the year and helped lead both comebacks, scoring nine points on 4-for-6 shooting. In the game's plus-minus stats, Stradnieks was plus-22, which was 12 better than any player on either team.
Eric McGill, a 6-2 guard, notched his second-straight double-double, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Lloyd Jr. was SIU's leading scorer with 14 points. Darius Beane played well in extended minutes, notching seven points on on just two shots in 24 minutes.Â
The Bulls swept the in-season home-and-home non-conference series. SIU's defense shined in both games, holding the high-powered Bulls to their two lowest scoring outputs of the season. Buffalo came into the game averaging nearly 87 points per game; but in two games this season against Buffalo, SIU held UB to two of their four lowest field goal percentages this season.Â
The Salukis wrap up non-conference action with a home game against Winthrop next Saturday, December 22, at 3 p.m. in SIU Arena.Â
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"If we don't turn the ball over, we're a pretty good basketball team because we can guard," SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. "Today, we rebounded. I leave here today more encouraged than I have in a long time. I wasn't this encouraged coming out of SEMO or SIUE because we didn't guard. We guarded today and we competed. If we get everybody rolling on the same page, we have a chance to be pretty good."
In a game of runs, Buffalo (10-0) jumped out to a 19-point lead in the first half and a 20-point lead in the second half. Each time, SIU (7-5) answered with a big run of its own to get back in the game. SIU's offensive hangover from Wednesday's 80-52 loss to Murray State continued into the first 10 minutes of today's game, and Buffalo took advantage and ran out to a 29-10 lead. But this time, the Salukis responded with an 18-4 run to close the half and bring the game within five points at halftime, 33-28.Â
"I give them a lot of credit; they easily could have folded," Buffalo head coach Nate Oats said. "They got beat at home by a pretty good Murray State team. After they got down 19 in the first half, they could have easily quit. They stayed in it, fought and fought, cut the lead. We had to fight and claw to get a win there at the end."
Again in the second half, Buffalo started on fire, jumping up 59-39 with 10 minutes to play. SIU responded to that with an 18-5 run to get within seven points with four minutes to go, but the Bulls held on to secure its best start to a season since 1930-31 and win their 17th-straight home game.Â
"I was proud how we competed today. I thought we competed our tails off at times," Hinson said.
Buffalo center Nick Perkins had game highs in both points (20) and rebounds (11), and he got both Kavion Pippen and Thik Bol into foul trouble, but reserve center Rudy Stradnieks played arguably his best game of the year and helped lead both comebacks, scoring nine points on 4-for-6 shooting. In the game's plus-minus stats, Stradnieks was plus-22, which was 12 better than any player on either team.
Eric McGill, a 6-2 guard, notched his second-straight double-double, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Lloyd Jr. was SIU's leading scorer with 14 points. Darius Beane played well in extended minutes, notching seven points on on just two shots in 24 minutes.Â
The Bulls swept the in-season home-and-home non-conference series. SIU's defense shined in both games, holding the high-powered Bulls to their two lowest scoring outputs of the season. Buffalo came into the game averaging nearly 87 points per game; but in two games this season against Buffalo, SIU held UB to two of their four lowest field goal percentages this season.Â
The Salukis wrap up non-conference action with a home game against Winthrop next Saturday, December 22, at 3 p.m. in SIU Arena.Â
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Team Stats
SIU
BUF
FG%
.489
.435
3FG%
.231
.233
FT%
.818
.800
RB
35
26
TO
22
10
STL
6
3
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
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