Cleveland-bound Buffalo Bulls take down Bowling Green on senior night 80-68

In usual fashion, Buffalo Bulls Men’s Basketball took down Bowling Green on senior night. The Bulls jumped out to an early lead and cruised to an 80-68 win and not only moved to 11-7 in the MAC, but locked up a #3 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Buffalo opened up the game with a lineup consisting of their seniors Blake Hamilton, Willie Conner, Raheem Johnson, David Kadiri, and even walk-on Christian Pino. With 16:40 in the first half, Pino sunk two free throw shots after drawing a foul to get his only two points of his night, and his last ever in Alumni Arena.

After the Pino free throws, the Bulls saw Blake Hamilton erupt, making three consecutive shots to extend the Buffalo lead to 16-7. Another first half star was Dontay Caruthers, sinking three of four shots for 7 points.

UB’s 36-28 lead at the half was trimmed by Bowling Green until the Bulls went on a three point barrage. Blake Hamilton continued his amazing performance from the first half and sunk a three followed by a pair of triples from CJ Massinburg. Buffalo never looked back from there and put the game on cruise control as Bowling Green didn’t have the offensive firepower to get back into the game.

Hamilton lead all scorers and his senior counterparts with a scintillating 32 points on lights out 13-18 shooting. It was a much needed rebound from his lackluster showing at Ohio. David Kadiri continued his MAC play surge of this season with a strong 14 point 9 rebound performance—just barely missing out on a double-double. CJ Massinburg had a good night with 11 points.

Rounding out the rest of the senior class: Raheem Johnson had 4 points and 8 blocks. Willie Conner finished the night with 6 and Christian Pino had 2.

Buffalo clinches an automatic quarterfinal bye in the MAC tournament with the win. Sitting at the #3 seed, the Bulls will play the winner of the game between the 6 and 11 seeds next Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena. That game is at a to be determined time and will air on ESPN3. We’ll update this post on who the 6 and 11 seeds are soon and talk about the MAC bracket this Sunday.