Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Buffalo
Fresno State Falls To Buffalo On The Road, 85-69
11/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2005
AMHERST, N.Y. (AP RECAP) - Mario Jordan scored 21 points and Calvin Cage had 20 to lead Buffalo to an 85-69 win over Fresno State Wednesday night.
Roderick Middleton added 15 points and Yassin Idbihi 13 for the Bulls (5-1), who are off to their best start since 1986-87.
Buffalo, which played in the NIT last season after failing to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, won for the 22nd time in its last 24 games at home. The Bulls have had at least one player score 20 or more points in five of their first six games this season.
Down by eight at the break, Fresno State trimmed Buffalo's lead down to 47-45 after a 17-11 run to start the second half. The Bulldogs (2-1) hit their first seven shots in the half, including three 3-pointers.
The Bulls responded with an impressive 19-3 run to take an 18-point lead, their biggest of the game. Jordan, who scored nine points during the run, capped the stretch with a layup to make the score 66-48.
Dwight O'Neil led Fresno State with 18 points. Donovan Morris added 15 points and Ja'Vance Coleman had 13.
Fresno State Recap
Fresno State was looking to even the series against Buffalo but the Bulls prevailed with an 85-69 victory tonight at Alumni Arena.
The Bulldogs dropped their first decision on the year and are now 2-1 as they were hoping to avenge last year's Bracket Buster loss.
While both teams had four players in double figures, Buffalo (5-1) came out on fire and never looked back as it tallied nearly half their points in the paint and made 96-percent of its free throw attempts (24-25).
Leading the way were a pair of 20-point scorers in Mario Jordan and Calvin Cage. Jordan came off the bench to post a game-high 21 points and while going 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. Cage added 20 and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.
Fresno State was led by Dwight O'Neil as he tallied a team-best and career-high 18 points. Recording his fifth career double figure game, he went 7-12 from the field, including four 3-pointers, as he also had a career-high two blocks.
Also in double figures for the Bulldogs was Donovan Morris, who came off the bench to score a season-high 15 points - his 20th career double figure game - as he was 5-for-10 from the field and hit four three-pointers. In addition, Ja'Vance Coleman and Quinton Hosley chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively.
In addition Kevin Bell tallied 11 assists to become the first Bulldog since Shantay Legans to record 10 or more assists in a game. Legans had 10 against East Tennessee State on Feb. 21, 2004.
Hector Hernandez played a career-high 29 minutes as he pulled down a team- and season-high five rebounds.
In the first half, Fresno State opened the game without scoring a basket for nearly four minutes as Buffalo jumped out to an 11-0 lead. O'Neil would hit a 3-point basket at 16:40 to give the Bulldogs their first points. The `Dogs found themselves down by as much as 13 points (16-3) before chipping away as the Bulls' lead. Hernandez was fouled on a layup and made both of his free throw attempts to get Fresno State within two at 24-22 with just over six minutes to play. After buckets were exchanged, Jordan would score six of Buffalo's next eight points and would finish with 10 in the first half to spark UB. Hernandez, O'Neil and Morris each had six points to lead Fresno State in an extremely physical first half.
In the second, Fresno State made its needed adjustments and opened with a 17-11 run. The Bulldogs nailed their first seven attempts, including three 3-pointers, to get within two at 47-45. However, the Bulldogs had the tables turned on them by Buffalo. The Bulls went on a 19-3 run of its own before O'Neil broke another scoreless drought as Fresno State found itself behind by 14 points (62-48) with just under 10 minutes to play. However, in the final 3:30 of the game, Buffalo would go on convert all 10 of its free throw attempts.
"Buffalo is a very good basketball team and the best we've faced thus far," Fresno State head coach Steve Cleveland said. "They made us guard and we didn't. They were patient and we weren't. Prevalent tonight was their great free throw shooting and our lack of effort on the boards. We did not have a lot of margin for error. They are a smart team with very good players."
"Now, I do think we attacked much more effectively in the second half," Cleveland stated. "Dwight (O'Neil) and Donovan (Morris) had a good offensive night. Quinton (Hosley) and Ja'Vance (Coleman) struggled. If we can get these four together at the same time we'll be competitive.
"The effort was there but we put ourselves into too many vulnerable positions, like fouling with the shot clock winding down or watching too many shots come down," Cleveland added. "We'll take a look at what happened tonight and break it down. We just couldn't get any energy because of missed baskets. We have to make things happen and remember to control the things we can control. If we're off offensively then defensively we can keep ourselves in the game."
Fresno State continues its longest road trip of the year when the Bulldogs visit Iowa State (4-1) on Sat., Dec. 3, 5:00 p.m. (PT). That game will be shown live via Bulldog Sports Network, which will be televised on KFRE WB 59.
