By Budd Bailey
In hockey terms, the University at Buffalo men’s basketball team lost a “four-pointer” on Saturday afternoon.
That’s what happens when two teams are in a fight for a playoff spot, and the winner gains two points in the standings while the loser lets two points get away. In other words, plus-2 or minus-2.
In this case, the Bulls dropped a 63-59 decision to Bowling Green before 1,534 at Alumni Arena. Both squads came into the contest 3-8 in Mid-American Conference play, and they were in a tie for 10th in the MAC race. Both squads were a game behind the three Michigans – Eastern, Central and Western – entering Saturday’s contest. Since eight teams reach the conference’s postseason tournament, the home game was a chance for the Bulls to gain ground in an attempt to reach the event in Cleveland.
It didn’t happen, as the Falcons maintained a slim lead throughout the second half right to the buzzer.
“That was a battle,” UB coach George Halcovage said. “Credit to Bowling Green. They made the necessary plays down at the wire, down at the end, to come up with big shots and big moments. I really liked the fight of our team for 40 minutes. I thought we played physical at both ends of the court. We did a great defensive effort. The turnovers got us. Playing that well defensively and giving up 17 possessions offensive – that hurt us. We weren’t great from the foul line. But it was an ugly game, and we gave ourselves a chance.”
From a coaching standpoint, Halcovage doesn’t really want his team to spend a lot of time thinking about playoff possibilities. The message essentially is to take care of what you can control, and the rest will fall into place.
“We try not to talk about focusing on what’s ahead of us,” he said. “We focus on one game at a time. Obviously we all know where we stand. We know the rankings. We’ve lost to these guys (Bowling Green) twice now. We both had the same conference record coming into the game, so we know what that does to us in terms of tiebreakers. But the guys should worry about Buffalo-Bowling Green and whatever game is next on the schedule. It stings because we played well enough to win.
“We still have a lot of basketball ahead of us. The best way for us to get there is to focus on one game at a time.”
Even so, it’s fair to say that a March trip to Cleveland remains a worthwhile goal. Indeed, it’s probably the first objective of any college basketball team entering the season. You can’t participate in any form of March Madness, conference or nationally, unless you qualify. After last season’s four-win campaign, even a game in the MAC tournament would be welcome – and a sign of growth for the program.
“No doubt,” Halcovage said. “Anything can happen in Cleveland. We are playing our best basketball of the year right now. That’s all we control. That’s all we talk about. We want to play our best basketball at the end of the year. If that’s good enough against whoever we play, then we’ll accept the results. I’ll accept this result tonight.”
On Saturday, the Bulls were led in the scoring department by Anquan Boldin Jr.’s 12 points. He was the only player in double figures for UB. Boldin always has looked like the best athlete on the floor for the Bulls during his nearly two years of play here. Now, however, he’s turning that advantage into basketball skills.
“He had a great middle stretch of the season last year,” Halcovage said. “He was really coming on and he got hurt. He didn’t play the last nine or ten games. That hurt because he had become a key piece of the team last year. We had key injuries on that team last year. Losing AJ in the later part of the season was part of that. Now he’s back to the guy who was coming into his own. He’s really confident. He’s really physical. We talked Friday night, and I told him I wanted him to be aggressive. He’s a good, tough, physical player. He can make plays in tight places, and it was great to see him do that.”
For Bowling Green, Javontae Campbell led the way with 20 points on 8 or 11 shooting from the field. The Falcons were better at the free throw line, going 15 for 19 while the Bulls were 12 of 21.
UB has another chance to make up some ground in the standings on Tuesday night. The Bulls will host Western Michigan.
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
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