Buffalo Basketball: Bulls outlast cross-town rival Canisius 80-75
The Buffalo Bulls overcame a poor shooting performance to outlast a Canisius Griffins squad 80-75 in the annual Big 4 matchup.
Rivalries are big in Division-I college sports, specifically in basketball, as there are generally several teams in a close proximity of one another. And while it is not a fierce of rivalry as Philly’s Big 5 Classic, the Big 4 Classic is important to Western New York’s four mid-major universities, who are all within 100 miles of each other. The Big 4 consists of St. Bonaventure, Buffalo, Canisius, and Niagara.
Nick Perkins led the way for Buffalo (1-0) with a career-high 26 points. Perkins came up big every time the Bulls needed a bucket, scoring a variety of ways. The 6-foot-8 junior forward scored for the final time of the game on a driving lay-up off a shot fake to give the Bulls a 75-74 lead with 54 seconds left. He was 9-of-17 from the floor including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Buffalo finished the game on a 7-2 run.
Davonta Jordan contributed 16 points along with eight rebounds off the bench for the Bulls. UB’s reserves outscored Canisius counterparts 22-8. Starter Jeremy Harris added 15 points.
“As impressive as Nick was on offensive today, I thought he was more impressive on defense guarding [Jermaine] Crumpton,” said head coach Nate Oats. “Davonta wasn’t a great shooter for us last year, but he put the work in all summer and it showed off today. Overall, we didn’t shoot the ball great, but we played hard and we beat them on the glass and that was the difference in the ballgame.”
The game was close throughout the entire 40 minutes as there were five ties and 14 lead changes. The biggest deficit either team faced was eight points and that was midway through the opening period. Canisius (0-1) held the lead for most of the second half. But turnovers and the Griffins inability to keep the Bulls off the offensive boards were the difference.
Canisius outshot Buffalo 48.1% to 41.1% from the field though after a hot first half by both teams cooled off in the second half, particularly UB. The Bulls, however, won nearly every other statistical category and finished with 21 more shots.
Guards Takal Molson and Isaiah Reese paced Canisius with 25 and 20 points, respectively. The duo combined to knock down 14-of-24 (58.3%) of their shots, including 5-of-10 (50.0%) from beyond the arc, to go along with four assists and nine rebounds. Molson’s 25 points set a school record by a true freshman in their debut.
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This was the 50th meeting between the schools. Canisius holds a 32-28 advantage in the series.
In other Big 4 news, Niagara opened its season with a 77-75 road victory over St. Bonaventure on Friday.