Sports
Ohio Men’s Basketball: ‘Cats handed historic blowout by No. 25 Buffalo
By: Taylor Jedrzejek
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BUFFALO — Sometimes, the other team is just simply better than you.
That was the case for Ohio on Tuesday night in Buffalo, when the Bobcats ran into the buzzsaw that is the No. 25 Buffalo Bulls and were given a first-hand taste of why the Bulls have set, and continue to set, a MAC record for weeks ranked by the Associated Press.
Buffalo (23-3, 11-2 MAC) knocked down 19 threes, out-rebounded the Bobcats (11-14, 3-10 MAC) by 21 and had four players finish with double-figure scoring nights en route to a 114-67 blowout of the ‘Cats.
The loss is Ohio’s sixth straight and their biggest margin of defeat since Dec. 21, 1973, when the Bobcats were defeated by the John Wooden-coached UCLA Bruins.
In the early going, the Bobcats seemed like they could hang with the Bulls. Then the three-point barrage started.
With 10:16 to play in the first half, Jayvon Graves hit his first three to give Buffalo a 10-point lead. 41 seconds later, Graves hit another. The sophomore hit another pair of threes on back-to-back possessions two and a half minutes later and what was just a six-point deficit for Ohio became 17 in just under three minutes of game time.
Graves, who normally averages just 9 points a game, exploded on the Bobcats for a career-high 26 points, making seven of his nine shot attempts from long range in the game.
The ‘Cats were never able to recover. Ohio went into the locker room trailing by 25, 52-27.
Buffalo picked up right where they left off in the second half.
The Bulls extended their lead to 30 with 16:45 to play and again to 40 with 9:03 to play. Buffalo came just one point short of taking an eye-popping 50-point lead with under a minute to play in the game. Buffalo went 9-of-14 from three-point range in the second half.
For the game, the Bulls had a better three-point shooting percentage, 57.6 percent, than they did from the field, 56.9 percent.
The Bobcats followed up Saturday’s offensive explosion with a solid day on that end, shooting 42.6 percent from the field. However, they once again struggled from beyond the arch and at the free throw line.
The Bulls may have shot the lights out from three, but the Bobcats weren’t able to remotely keep up, ending the game with just three made shots from long range. Buffalo outscored Ohio 57-9 from three-point range.
The Bulls, who set a new season-high mark for points in a game, had a pair of 20-point scorers. Graves was joined by C.J. Massinburg in that department. The senior guard finished with 23 points. Two other Bulls, Jeenathan Williams with 13 and Montell McRae with 11, also scored in double figures.
Ohio had three players finish with double-figure scoring nights, led by Jason Carter with 16. Doug Taylor finished with 14 points, his most since the Nov. 12 win over Campbell. Teyvion Kirk also added 10 points.
The Bobcats will have to wait three days before they can wash the taste of this brutal defeat out of their mouth, but the schedule does them no favors.
Ohio will host Bowling Green in the Convo on Friday with tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday.