Bison Men Stunned by Undefeated Buffalo on Buzzer-Beater, 73-71

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Daniel Freitag hit a running bank shot as time expired, lifting undefeated Buffalo to a 73-71 win over Bucknell on Wednesday afternoon at the Skechers Fort Myers Challenge at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. The last-second shot spoiled a big second-half charge from a 13-point halftime deficit, along with a career-high 20-point night from Brandon McCreesh, who went 6-for-10 from 3-point range.

Three Bison newcomers also scored in double figures. Amon Dörries tallied 13, Pat Curtin had 12, including two clutch game-tying free throws with 5.5 seconds left, and Grgur Brcic tallied a season-high 10 points to go with seven rebounds.

Angelo Brizzi scored 25 points for Buffalo, which moved to 7-0 on the season. Freitag, a Wisconsin transfer, finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, and Noah Batchelor added 11 points.

After the Bulls ended the first half on a 17-1 run to take a 45-32 lead at intermission, Bucknell played some of its best basketball of the season in the opening 14 minutes of the second stanza. McCreesh splashed three 3-pointers in less than two minutes as part of a run of six straight made attempts, and the Bison quickly slashed the deficit to a manageable range.

Five straight points from Curtin made it 54-52, and then a great defensive possession led to a forced shot at the end of the timer, and Achile Spadone gathered the long rebound and fed McCreesh for a breakaway layup to tie the game at 54.

After Ryan Sabol made two free throws for Buffalo, McCreesh hit his fourth triple of the half at the 10:24 mark to give the Bison their first lead since 5:00 remained in the first half. Brcic followed with an and-one put-back, and his free throw made it 60-56.

Brcic scored on another tip-in for a 66-62 lead with 5:57 left, but the Bison couldn't capitalize on a few chances to extend the lead past four. They missed three straight free throws in one key stretch, and then Brizzi hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Buffalo the lead back with 3:48 to go.

Curtin shot right back with a 3-pointer of his own, and Mikhail Pocknett answered with a layup to tie the game at 69-all with 2:56 left. Bucknell got three straight stops but also came up empty at its end, and Buffalo took the lead back on Brizzi's driving layup with 20 seconds to go.

After a timeout, Curtin drove from the right wing and drew a foul with 5.5 on the clock. The freshman avenged a couple of earlier misses from the line with two clutch free throws this time around, but Buffalo won it when Freitag caught a pass on the run near the right sideline, split two defenders and arced a shot over Dörries, off the glass and in as time expired.

Bucknell shot 52 percent in the second half and 47.4 percent for the game. The Bison went 10-for-27 from the 3-point arc and 7-for-12 from the foul line. Buffalo finished at 44.4 percent overall, 11-for-28 from deep, and 14-for-19 from the line.

Bucknell outrebounded Buffalo 35-29 and had 11 turnovers to the Bulls' eight. Spadone tied for the team high in rebounds with seven to go along with nine points, and Jayden Williams set a new career high with seven assists. McCreesh's 20 points surpassed his previous high of 14, set last year at Lafayette.

Things were going well for the Bison in a back-and-forth opening 14 minutes. There were five ties and six lead changes in the early stages, and Bucknell went up 31-28 at the 6:55 mark after a 6-0 run, keyed by two Dörries layups and a steal and breakaway dunk from Josh Fulton.

Buffalo controlled the final six minutes, however. While the Bison went 0-for-8 with five turnovers in that span, the Bulls connected on three 3-pointers as part of a 17-1 run that gave them a 45-32 lead at the break. It was the second time this week that Bucknell was undone by a huge run late in the first half. On Monday, Bowling Green pulled away with a 19-1 run, and the Bison couldn't get all the way back despite closing within three late in the game.

After playing its last four games away from home, the Bison will get back to Sojka Pavilion on Sunday when they host Cornell at 2 p.m.

Bison Men Stunned by Undefeated Buffalo on Buzzer-Beater, 73-71

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Team Stats

Brandon McCreesh

Amon Dörries

Pat Curtin

Grgur Brcic

Players Mentioned

Grgur Brcic

Pat Curtin

Josh Fulton

Brandon McCreesh

Achile Spadone

Jayden Williams