Bulls Battle to the end but fall in round one of the NIT

Buffalo acquitted themselves well, on the whole, but were not able to close the deal late and were not able to stop clutch plays by Colorado State in round one of the NIT.

UB led by one at the half but fell 75-73 on Friday night in the first round of the NIT but a last second layup, following LaQuill Hardnett’s 3-pointer to tie it, put the Bulls behind and they were unable to get a shot off to end the game.

Jeenathan Williams scored 21 points for Buffalo (16-9). Hardnett and Jayvon Graves each added 12 points. Josh Mballa, the MAC defensive player of the year, had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Rather than go too much into detail here was the theme of the game.

It was darn close the entire game, usually within two possessions and neither team could put it away. No particular play or series “doomed” the Bulls, but they jsut did not have the clutch up defensive play that Colorado seems to manage towards the end of the game.

It was a hard loss, in the NIT, to a pretty good basketball team. Buffalo gave the Rams the best they had, but the rams were just a bit better.