Shooting Woes Plague Army In Loss To Buffalo

Wednesday, December 1

West Point, N.Y.

7 PM

Army West Point

Buffalo

Shooting Woes Plague Army In Loss To Buffalo

December 02, 2010 | Men's Basketball

WEST POINT, N.Y.  –  Byron Mulkey’s jumper with 12.3 seconds left gave Buffalo a 56-54 victory over Army in men’s basketball action at Christl Arena Wednesday night. Army had a chance to tie, but its final shot was off the mark, sending the Black Knights to their second straight defeat.

Army’s Jeremy Hence registered the Black Knights’ (4-3) first double-double since Feb. 9, 2008 with 21 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Hence has been in double figures in all seven of Army’s outings.

Sophomore F Ella Ellis scored 12 points, and junior G Julian Simmons added 10 markers to round out the Black Knights’ top scorers. Ellis and Simmons did most of their damage at the free throw line. The duo combined to go 20 for 25 at the stripe, but hit only one of a combined 23 field goal tries.

The Black Knights suffered through their worst scoring and shooting games of the season. Army shot just 23.6 percent overall, hitting 13 of 55 shot attempts. Army entered the game with a Patriot League-leading 10.7 three-pointers per game, but managed only six in 17 tries on Wednesday (.353).

Zach Filzen led the Bulls (4-2) with 14 points, while Mulkey tacked on 10 markers. Mitchell Watt was the third Buffalo player in double figures with 12 points. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and blocked five shots.

Army was able to keep it close despite their poor shooting due to 23 Buffalo turnovers and a 43-36 rebounding edge. The Black Knights snared 23 offensive rebounds.

The Bulls jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the opening minutes as Army missed its first eight field goal tries. After two free throws by Ellis, Hence snapped the Black Knights’ field-goal drought with a putback at the 14:16 mark. Pancoe hit Army’s first three-pointer of the game to cap an 11-0 spurt by the Black Knights and give them their first lead at 12-11 with 11:55 to go. Hence scored six points during the run.

Army led 16-14 with 8:58 left in the first half when both teams went into an offensive funk. Neither team scored for the next two minutes, 31 seconds, and Byron Mulkey’s jumper snapped a span of eight minutes and 25 seconds without a Buffalo field goal. The basket put the Bulls on top 17-16 with 3:23 left, but Army answered with eight straight points, including back-to-back three-pointers by Hence, to claim a 24-17 edge with 1:10 to go. Hence’s first three-pointer stopped an eight-minute, 49-second stretch without an Army field goal.

Buffalo scored the last five points of the half to send the teams into intermission with Army leading 24-22.

Hence led all scorers with 14 points in the first half, ensuring his seventh straight game in double figures. Mitchell Watt paced the Bulls with nine points.

Army shot just 6 for 26 (.231) in the first half, making three of its seven three-point tries. Buffalo shot a respectable 40.9 percent, but turned the ball over 18 times in the first 20 minutes.

Army’s halftime lead lasted only 19 seconds. After an offensive rebound, Mulkey drilled a three-pointer to push the Bulls in front 25-24. The Black Knights regained a brief one-point lead, but the Bulls answered with five straight points to lead 30-26 with 16:33 to go.

The Black Knights were able to get within one point on two occasions, but the Bulls scored seven of the next nine over a three-minute, 47-second span to take a 40-34 lead with 11:12 left on the second-half clock. Army went on a 4-1 mini-run to trim the lead to 41-38, but Filzen drained a three-pointer to extend the Bulls’ lead back to six with 8:41 to go.

Army fired back with a 9-1 run, taking a 47-45 lead on a Josh Herbeck triple with 5:34 to go.

Buffalo tied the game at 49-49, but a pair of Ellis free throws with 4:35 left put the Black Knights back on top 51-49. Neither team scored over the next two minutes, 40 seconds until Mulkey made one of two foul shots to cut the Bulls’ deficit to 51-50. Watt tied the game with one free throw with 1:19 left, but Simmons was fouled on the rebound scrum. The junior made one of two to give Army a 52-51 edge.

That was the Black Knights’ last lead of the game. Filzen converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 59.3 seconds left to give the Bulls a 54-52. Ellis knocked down a pair of free throws to tie the game, but Mulkey hit a pull-up jumper with one second left on the shot clock to put the Bulls back on top, 56-54, with 12.3 seconds left. Ellis’ last-second shot was off the mark, securing the victory for Buffalo.

The loss marked Army’s 15th straight defeat when shooting below 33 percent.

The Black Knights start a seven-game stretch of games away from West Point on Saturday, Dec. 4 versus Penn. The game will tip off at 12 p.m. at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J.

Game Notes: Buffalo won its second straight against the all-time series which it now leads 5-4 … the Bulls have won the last two against Army by a combined nine points … freshman C Andrew Stire made his collegiate debut … Stire is the seventh Army player to see action for the first time in their career … Army had its six-game streak of scoring at least 60 points come to an end … the Black Knights are now 20-14 in their last 34 games decided by six points or less and/or in overtime … Army is now 13-35 in its last 48 games when not scoring 60 points … the Black Knights suffered their first loss of the season when leading at halftime (4-1) … in the last two games, Army is 20 for 42 on three-point tries (.476) and 17 for 69 from inside the arc (.246) … Army scored 22 of its 54 points at the foul line (22-30) … the Black Knights dropped to 18-6 in the last 24 games when allowing 61-or-less points … Jason Pancoe led the team with five assists, turning it over only twice in 30 minutes of work.