Western Michigan Broncos vs Buffalo Bulls Men's Basketball recap: Bulls blitzed early, put up little fight in 91-71 loss

There are better ways to start a basketball game than a 17-2 deficit. But that's how things went for UB Men's Basketball, who found the hole too deep and mailed it in early in a 91-71 road loss to Western Michigan. Buffalo is now 2-7 on the road this season.

WMU hit 8-14 three-pointers in the first half for a 48-30 lead, and that's pretty much all there is to say. Did UB play particularly poorly when it mattered? Maybe. They certainly struggle on the road, and didn't ever look like they were playing with a real spark after the early blitz, but the early lead was built more on incandescent play from Tucker Haymond than anything else.

After that, UB pretty much played out the string after they couldn't close to single digits in the first half. Offensive rebounds were an afterthought and the deficit slowly grew to 20 without much sense of urgency. Haymond finished with 27. Lamonte Bearden did return from a two-game absence, but it was Blake Hamilton who led the Bulls with 11 points and 8 rebounds, though Willie Conner did score 17. Nick Perkins and Jarryn Skeete also hit double digits.

It's a loss, and one that while technically ugly, was pretty much devoid of emotion from the beginning. Life goes on.

At 3-3, Buffalo is in the same position as last season through six MAC games. They host Ball State on Tuesday.