Buffalo Rides Watsons hot hand over Toledo

Toledo rode into Buffalo on a five game winning streak and sitting at third in the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets shooting in the first half let Buffalo establish a double digit lead by the half and coast during the second half never leading by less than 10.

Javon McCrea cleaned up the glass preventing Toledo from getting quality second chance points, his 14 defensive rebounds (16 total) dominated the first half including the 14-2 run the UB used to close the half. McCrea still manged to roll up 14 points for a double double but the offensive star was Tony Watson II. Watson shot 6-9 from three point territory and 4-4 from the free throw line. He topped it off shooting 1-2 inside the arc for a game high of 24 points.

Toledo put three players in double figures. Matt Smith, Rian Pearson, and Julius Brown all scored 10 points but none of hte had a field goal percentage of 50% and as a team Toledo shot only 32.4%. McCrea's rebounding and 8 Buffalo blocks (four by McCrea) keyed a defensive effort that held Rian Pearson, one of the MAC's leading scorers, to just 3-12 from the field.

For the second straight game Buffalo played an uncharacteristically efficient game, turning the ball over just 11 times, committing only ten fouls, and shooting 75% from the line.

Buffalo jumped out to a 9-3 lead and held a lead for all but a minute mid way through the firtst half. When Auraum Nuiriankh made Three Point Jumper off a pass by Jarryn Skeete.UB took a 24-22 lead and would never look back. Buffalo finished the half on a 14-3 to close out the half with a 35-25 lead.

The Bulls Buils a huge lead through the first ten minutes of the second half going up by 22 at the 11:41 mark. UB weather a couple of Toledo runs, the final time when Watson hit his fifth three-pointer of the game at the 4:42 mark.

Three Point Shot:

Point 1 - May I assist you?

Every UB player that put in more than two minutes had at least one assist. Three of the starters had three assist, the other two each had a pair. It was a very balanced attack and demonstrated the strength of the motion offense when there is a decent outside threat.

The balanced passing and clean play gave UB an Assist to Turnover ration of 1.45:1, far better than UB usually does.

Point 2 - The Glass Man or the Sharp Shooter

Javon McCrea had a double double by the time the first half was over. His four points and two rebounds in the last two and a half minutes capped his eight double-double of the season.

Was that bigger than Watson's 24 points and 6-7 shooting from three point land?

Probably not but it's still darn amazing that these kind of nights are becoming routine for the Buffalo Junior.

Point 3 - Get that out of here!

Eight team blocks and thirty three defensive rebounds made it impossible for the rockets to get traction. Buffalo played their best defensive ball of the season tonight.