UB 69, Canisius 64: cp,16 Bulls have to rally for win after squandering 19-point lead
Boyer's trey sinks Griffs
There's something about the Koessler Athletic Center that John Boyer likes.
Two years ago, he had a steal and knocked down two free throws to seal the win for the University at Buffalo over Canisius.
Tuesday, it was the same guy, different play.
Boyer got a key offensive rebound and then knocked down a three-pointer with 32 seconds left to give the Bulls a 69-64 win in front of 2,176.
"I just saw the shot go up and I went after it," Boyer said. "The shot felt good. I just wanted to make sure it went in. It was a great job by [Calvin] Betts to find [Greg Gamble] and then find me."
"One of the things is that John is a tough, resilient kid," UB coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "He fights to get everything that he's gotten."
And UB had to fight to get this win.
The Bulls (2-0) had cruised in the first half, dominating the boards and taking a 41-24 halftime lead that grew to 19 — 60-41 — with 10:34 to play.
That's when the Bulls started getting a bit careless with the ball and when Canisius turned up its defensive effort.
The Griffs put on a full-court press the Bulls couldn't handle. When Buffalo could get the ball past half court — which wasn't often in this stretch — they put up poor and rushed shots.
Canisius pushed the tempo, got the ball inside and went on a 17-0 run. The Griffs extended it to a 23-3 run to take their first lead — 64-63, with 2:29 to play — since scoring the first bucket of the game.
"I just think we lost poise and we got slow and some of that was fatigue," Witherspoon said. "Foul trouble kind of hurt our rotation and it stretched us out thin a little bit. We'll learn from that. ... It's good that they had enough to keep fighting and see what was available and take what was available down the stretch."
"Not much went wrong. It's just that they're a Division I team and they were going to make a run," said Buffalo point guard Greg Gamble. "We just had to weather the storm and be a mature team and finish the game."
UB's Max Boudreau hit one of two free throws to tie the game, 64-64, with 2:06 to play.
After several changes of possession, Rodney Pierce (Hutch-Tech) threw up a three-pointer as the shot clock was expiring. Boyer got the rebound and was rewarded a few seconds later with an open three-pointer that he buried to put the Bulls up, 67-64, with 32.3 seconds left.
"The battle of the boards was won by them and I wasn't happy about that," Canisius coach Tom Parrotta said. "Ultimately it came down to 14 seconds on defense and we didn't get the rebound and that was the game.
"We adjusted and were able to give them different looks that got us back in the game but there was no way we were coming back from a [19]-point deficit. We didn't have enough left, and we'll learn from it and fix it."
Pierce, who had a career-high 26 points, hit two free throws with 22 seconds left for the final margin of victory.
Chris Gadley (Amherst) had an impressive night for the Griffs with a career-high 20 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Frank Turner had 16 points for Canisius (0-2) while Greg Logins had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
. . .
The Bulls improved to 2-0 with a pair of road wins — their first back-to-back road wins since beating Niagara, Liberty and Delaware State in 2005-06. UB had only one road win last year. ... It was the fifth straight win for the Bulls over Canisius in the Big 4 rivalry. The Griffs hold a 28-13 advantage in the all-time series, which began in 1912. ... Former Canisius guard Brian Dux was an honorary guest on the Griffs' bench. It was his first appearance at a game in the Koessler Center since he was seriously injured in a car accident last November in England. ... Both teams will return to action Saturday with Canisius hosting Long Island University at 7 p.m. and Buffalo traveling to Evansville.
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