The men’s basketball Bengals took it down to the wire in a victory over Fredonia, 60-59. The win pushed the Bengals record to 16-8 (10-8 SUNYAC) to finish out the season. They clinched the playoffs and will enter as the 5-seed.

Buffalo State trailed 29-27 going into halftime as both teams struggled shooting in the first half (38 percent). The Bengals would take the lead 47-35 after going on a 20-6 run. Like many games this season the Bengals couldn’t hold on to the lead and found themselves tied at 57 with one minute remaining.

The Bengals leading scorer in the game was Dom Grayer with 15 points. Grayer was fouled on a three-point shot with 38 seconds left and ensued to knock down all three free throws which gave the Bengals the lead 60-57. Ultimately the Bengals won limiting the Blue Devils to only two points, 60-59.

It was a game filled with turnovers. Both teams with 20 turnovers and neither team capitalized as both teams only scored 17 points off of them.

Lovell Smith added 12 points for the Bengals with six of those points coming from the free throw line. Jordan Glover had three shots, all of which were threes and made them to give an efficient nine points.

The defense was key for the Bengals as they held Fredonia to 37 percent shooting and 20 percent from three-point range.  They will look to carry that type of defensive effort into the playoffs.

The Bengals will travel to Cortland on Tuesday, Feb 21. to take on the No. 4 seed Cortland in the SUNYAC quarterfinals. In two meeting against Cortland this season, they are 1-1 with each team winning on their home court. The Bengals will look to end that trend and advance to the SUNYAC semifinals.

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