Men’s Hoops falls at Bonaventure, 90-84

Close games at the Reilly Center is just the way of the world. After today’s 90-84 loss to the Bonnies — a score that far overstates UB’s competitiveness on the night — Buffalo is still stuck on just a single win in Olean, a 53-18 victory in the 1915-16 season.

UB’s discipline at both ends hurt this afternoon; 20 turnovers and only 13 trips to the line — to Bona’s 33 — were the difference in a game that absolutely wasn’t the Bulls’ best ball. Nick Perkins did set a new career high with 24 points, and the team shot 50% from the floor and nearly that will from distance, but this group will need to improve its discipline at both ends to be successful.

The Bulls needed nearly five minutes to score and led only fleetingly — 17-16 midway through the first — before trailing for the final 29 minutes. On multiple occasions UB closed to within five, and then got to within two on a flurry of threes inside of the final minute, but they simply weren’t the better team.

Bonaventure’s Jaylen Adams led all scorers with 28 on the night, while UB put four in double digits. The Bulls would do well to get CJ Massinburg and Quate McKinzie back to add stability to the lineup: While Bonaventure relied on an established seven-man rotation deep into the second half, the Bulls used nine and got little in the way of scoring from senior Blake Hamilton until it was too late.

Buffalo is now 4-4 season heading into a Wednesday trip to Pittsburgh to face the 6-2 Panthers, themselves coming off an A-10 loss against Duquesne.