Live Blog: Men's Basketball vs. Buffalo at the M.A.C. Center

SECOND HALF

FINAL: Buffalo 71, Kent State 65

The Golden Flashes put together a run that was simply too little, too late.

A difficult loss. This is one of those games where you could say that the seniors need to take a look in the mirror and decide what they want from this season ... but that may not be fair.

It was pretty clear that senior guards Devareaux Manley, Kris Brewer and Derek Jackson are simply tired. They are the only scholarship guards available, and they keep playing big minutes as the Flashes often play three-guard lineups.

Manley finished with 19 points, but missed his first nine three-pointers, shot 4-for-18 from the field, 2-for-12. Brewer was 1-for-8. And any time Jackson has a hard time keeping opposing guards in front of him, you know stamina has to be a factor as he has been the best defender in the MAC all season long.

5:01 ... Everything has been a struggle for the Flashes. The senior guards simply look gassed. They have logged a lot of minutes as the only three scholarship guards available.

Buffalo's guards are getting to any spot they want on the floor.

Brewer just missed 2 free throws with a chance to cut into Buffalo's 12-point lead.

The Flashes are in trouble.

11:28 ... Kent State trails 50-41 and is in a bit of trouble as Jimmy Hall is having a difficult time getting touches, and the senior guards continue to struggle on both ends of the floor.

The Flashes had 4 turnovers in the first half. Already four in the second half.

15:32 ... Not a great start for Kent State in the second half, but still in this one, trailing 43-37.

Khaliq Spicer is back on the bench again with his 3rd foul, which is a shame as he was having an impact with an offensive rebound and put back and a two-handed dunk in the first 2 minutes of the half.

Kris Brewer just hit a 15 footer that hopefully will get the senior guard trio going. Brewer played only 3 minutes in the first half. Jackson and Manley are a combined 1-for-11 from three-point range to this point.

Two turnovers on the first two possessions got this half off to a difficult start for the Flashes. Both turned into easy dunks on the other end for the Bulls.

FIRST HALF

Buffalo will take a 34-31 lead into the break.

The Flashes battled back, but struggled in the closing minutes as Buffalo used a mini run to jump back on top.

Hurley's battles with the officials haven't done him or his team any favors.

Officials refused to give the Bulls several calls in the last five minutes of the half, including an obvious foul on a half-court shot at the buzzer ... and it's pretty clear they are sending the coach a message.

Kent State is fortunate to be in this one after shooting 36.4 pct from field, including 1-of-12 from 3-point range.

Hall has 11 points and 5 rebounds.

Skeete leads Buffalo with 12, but hasn't scored since his opening 4-for-4. He also has not returned after a hard fall on a defensive rebound late in the first half.


3:43 ... Some sideline antics by Bobby Hurley have helped Kent State get back into this ball game.

The Flashes now lead 31-30.

The Bulls bench first got a sideline warning, and then Hurley got hit with a technical foul from about 90 feet away by official Chris Beaver after Hurley waved his hands in disgust following an offensive foul whistled against Raheem Johnson.

Chris Ortiz hit 4-for-4 from the foul line in a matter of seconds to cut the Buffalo lead to 1.

Then after a steal, Dev Manley faked a three and calmly found Marquiez Lawrence alone on the right block for a layup that also drew a foul.

Up 1 now, Kent State will try to add to the slim advantage with Lawerence at the line.

6:30 ... Flashes are starting to get the some hustle plays to get back into this one.

Derek Jackson with a steal led to a Dev Manley driving layup that could get him turned around. He is currently 1-for-7 from the field.

Jackson also added a 3-pointer to cut the Buffalo lead to 5.

Craig Brown has been active on the boards. He had 3 offensive rebounds on one possession, but the Flashes couldn't convert. Lots of hustle by Brown has him with 6 rebounds.

9:35 ... Jimmy Hall is single handedly keeping Kent State in this.

The Flashes trail 25-16.

Hall is 5-for-6 from the field. The rest of the team is 2-for-11. Hall also has 4 of the 9 rebounds.


15:25 ... A tough start for Kent State as Jarryn Skeete lights up Kent State by hitting his first four 3-pointers ... and Buffalo's first four shots.

Jimmy Hall answered with a 3-for-4 start. But Kent State is just 4-for-9 overall and 0-for-4 from three-point range.

The Flashes find themselves down 18-9.

PREGAME

RADIO: WHLO 640 AM

INTERNET RADIO: iHeartRadio WHLO 640 Channnel and iHeartRadio Golden Flashes Channel

We are tracking towards the best atmosphere of the season tonight. An hour before tip-off and already fans are arriving early for the better seats in the upper deck. Usually the sign I look for to predict a big crowd is fans scoping out their upstairs seats about a half hour before tip.

Buffalo's students are already here and loud, sitting in the upper deck of the west stands.

This is becoming a pretty good rivalry. Part of it is because of the Buffalo students who made the game in Amherst such a great college basketball atmosphere in January while also making life very difficult on the Flashes. In my opinion, it was by far the most challenging road setting KSU has faced this season, and that includes the trip to Kansas.

The Bobby Hurley factor also makes this and every rivalry for the Bulls in the MAC a little more interesting. Hurley's sideline demeanor and the sense of entitlement with which he carries himself have made him a natural villain within the league, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It keeps the MAC from being bland. There haven't been a great deal of interesting personalities in the league over the years. Charlie Coles was a larger than life figure within the MAC, but he was pretty much universally loved. He was all class. Hurley is something else.

And while Hurley may not have a likable quality, he appears to be on his way to becoming a pretty good coach. He has the Bulls playing well. He had them whipped into a frenzy when they embarrassed Kent State on Jan. 30.

Transition points were a key to that game. The Bulls forced turnovers and turned them into easy layups. While the Flashes have struggled at times this season with defending in transition, it has usually been for other reasons. Lack of communication and failing to match up were keys to Miami outscoring Kent State 22-0 in transition in a Tuesday loss that was almost as embarrassing as that January trip to Buffalo.

There is a feeling that the Flashes will be playing to atone for quite a bit tonight as they have a long memory to that Buffalo game and the sting of Tuesday could still be very real.

In addition to transition, Kent State's defense needs to be physical without fouling in the paint. Buffalo is No. 1 in the country in scoring around the basket. A good deal of those points also come on offensive rebounds, where the Bulls also rank No. 1.

The matchup between KSU's Jimmy Hall and Buffalo's Justin Moss should be a good one. Moss, of course, leads the MAC in scoring (18.7) and rebounding (9.3).

Hall could actually see most of his minutes on defense matched up with Xavier Ford, who was a nightmare for Kent State in January with a career-high 25 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Khaliq Spicer will get the assignment on Moss, where the Flashes hope to see Spicer's length create some problems for the 6-foot-7 Buffalo junior.

The Bulls are not a particularly good perimeter team, but they can be streaky.

Derek Jackson has looked tired of late, and who can blame him with the minutes he has been logging. The Flashes need the senior to come out and dominate his matchup with Buffalo freshman Lamonte Bearden. Devareaux Manley also needs to match the Shannon Evans, who is an athletic combo guard and averaging 15.1 ppg coming into this one.

We've been saying it all week. This is a big game. But all three remaining regular-season games are big for Kent State as the Flashes come into the day tied for first place in the East Division with BGSU (a winner of Miami about an hour ago), both one game ahead of Buffalo in the East and one behind Central Michigan for the MAC's best overall record.

If you are Kent State, you know it's just a matter of winning to control your own destiny for a division championship and byes in the MAC Championship. That's a good position when you have five teams at the top of the overall league standings and all separated by only one game.