Nov. 18, 2006
Contact: Brian McCann
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - J'Nathan Bullock scored 24 points with a game-high seven rebounds and Joe Davis added 13 points, 11 coming in the second half as Cleveland State nearly overcame a 13-point second half deficit before falling, 77-73 to Buffalo in the opening round of the America's Youth Classic at the University of Evansville.
The Vikings had a chance to tie or take the lead in the waning seconds, but Victor Morris was called for an offensive foul with 5.1 seconds left and Buffalo holding on to a narrow 75-73 lead.
Parnell Smith led Buffalo with 24 points, 18 of which came in the second half, while Andy Robinson and Eric Moore added 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Bullock turned in another brilliant performance, making nine of his 15 field goal attempts and five of six free throws to record his second 20-point game of the season. His 24 points was one off his career high of 25 set against UIC last year.
With Bullock carrying the majority of the scoring load, the Vikings led for most of the first 24 minutes.
CSU trailed just once in the first half - 9-7 with 15:46 left - but Patrick Tatham hit a baseline jumper to tie the game at 9-9 and Bullock followed with his first career three-pointer on the next possession.
After Buffalo trimmed the lead to 12-11 on a Parnell Smith field goal with 14:19 left, CSU extended the lead to seven (18-11 with 12:05 left) on a field goal by Raheem Moss, two free throws from Davis and a basket inside by Kevin Francis.
The lead would eventually grow to nine (32-23, 3:31) on a three-pointer by Carlos English and another English trey with 25 seconds left sent CSU to the halftime break with a 35-28 lead.
Morris scored just five seconds into the second half to put the Vikings ahead 37-28 but the Bulls countered by scoring 12 of the next 13 points to take a 40-38 advantage just 3:33 into the second stanza.
Buffalo continued to pour it on, extending the lead to 64-51 with 7:32 left before the Vikings regrouped and came back.
Using the speed and athleticism of Davis to trigger the offense, CSU scored eight straight points, including six by Davis, to close to within 64-59 with 4:47 left.
The Vikings would close to within three points on several occasions over the next four minutes but each time, Buffalo would answer.
A three-point play by Davis with 14.3 seconds left pulled CSU to within 75-73. The Vikings fouled Buffalo's Eric Moore on the ensuing inbounds, who missed both subsequent free throws to give CSU life.
Morris advanced the ball up the court. He penetrated into the lane and wanted to feed Davis for an apparent three-pointer in the left corner but couldn't stop his momentum in time to avoid an offensive foul, giving the ball back over to Buffalo.
The Vikings fouled Moore again on the inbounds, but lightning didn't strike twice as he made both free throws to ice the game.
The loss spoiled another efficient offensive performance by the Vikings as CSU shot .509 from the field (27-53) and .789 from the line (15-19).
One interesting statistic came at the foul line where each team went three-for-four in the first half but combined to take 38 free throws in the second half. Buffalo was 16-of-23, with Smith ging10-for-12, while Davis (7-8) and Bullock (5-6) helped CSU to a 12-for-15 effort from the line in the second half.
The Vikings have little time to regroup, playing host Evansville on Saturday (Nov. 18) at 6:00 p.m. and Miami, Fla. on Sunday (Nov. 19) at 2:00 p.m.
