Montana State’s offense went cold in up-state New York on Saturday afternoon.
The MSU men’s basketball team shot 27.7 percent (10-of-36) after halftime as the Bobcats fell to 1-2 on its current four-game road trip with an 80-73 loss at Buffalo. MSU has lost three of four and fell to 5-6 overall.
MSU junior Stephan Holm hit a 3-pointer in the corner to cut the Buffalo lead to 73-68 with one minute, 11 second remaining. The Bobcats earned a stop but MSU freshman Tyler Hall committed a crucial turnover that resulted in a Buffalo basket by Rodell Wigginton. MSU junior Sarp Gobeloglu hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 76-71 but the Bobcats would get no closer. Blake Hamilton made two free throws and David Kadiri converted a jumper in the lane to seal the win for Buffalo, a 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament a season ago who moved to 6-5 with the win.
Hall finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. He scored 16 points after halftime. Hall shot just 1-of-5 from the floor in the first half, 6-of-13 in the second half. The rest of the Bobcats converted 4-of-23 shots for 16 points in the loss. MSU took a 41-40 lead into halftime by shooting 46 percent before intermission. MSU’s largest lead came on a Gobeloglu 3-pointer with 6:38 in the first half to put the ‘Cats up 30-26.
MSU senior point guard Marcus Colbert, MSU’s leading scorer, finished with 17 points but missed four of his five 3-point attempts and 6-of-16 from the floor. Holm hit 3-of-6 from deep to finish with nine points off the bench. Gobeloglu hit 3-of-7 from deep to finish with nine off the bench as MSU hit 10-of-29 from beyond the arc. Senior power forward Danny Robison scored nine points but struggled with foul trouble. Junior center Shy Blake continued to struggle offensively, missing all four of his shots but he had his best rebounding game as a Division I player with eight rebounds.
Buffalo guard Lamonte Bearden hit 7-of-15 shots in scoring a game-high 18 points to lead a group of four double figures scorers for the Bulls. Bearden added seven rebounds, a total matched by Hamilton who also scored 17 points. Wiggington scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds off the bench. CJ Massinurg added 10 points in a reserve role.
Buffalo shot 41 percent, including just 20.8 percent from beyond the arc but capitalized at the charity strip, making 25-of-34 from the free throw line. The Bulls owned a 46-40 advantage on the glass and a 36-24 advantage in points in the paint.
Montana State completes its 10-day road trip and its non-conference schedule with a trip to the Carrier Dome to play perennial power Syracuse on Tuesday night.
