One way to prepare for a bunch of incoming cold and snow is to be warmed by a lopsided home win, and that's what No. 18 Buffalo provided on Tuesday.
Senior guard Donte Caruthers came off of the bench to score 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting to lead the Bulls to an 83-59 win over Ball State.
The Bulls (19-2, 7-1 Mid-American Conference) have won two straight since getting upset last week at Northern Illinois. They won at Kent State on Friday before defeating Ball State.
Buffalo never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 13-4 lead in the first 7:11 of the game and then taking a 21-8 lead with 8:04 remaining in the first half.
Buffalo ended up holding a 35-22 lead at halftime.
The Bulls continued to steadily build their advantage, going up 46-28 with 15:09 remaining in the game.
Ball State (11-10, 2-6) mounted a brief flurry and cut Buffalo's lead to 48-36 with 12:05 remaining, but the Bulls quickly got back on track.
Buffalo responded with a 12-2 run to take a 60-38 lead with 9:11 remaining.
Ball State managed to close within 70-56 with 4:19 left, but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
Buffalo answered with a 7-0 run to take a 77-56 lead with 2:39 remaining and never looked back.
Senior guard CJ Massinburg had 16 points and nine rebounds and junior Davonta Jordan added 13 points for Buffalo, which overcame a poor shooting performance from behind the 3-point arc (7 of 31).
Junior K.J. Walton scored 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting and junior Tahjai Teague added 13 points in defeat for Ball State, which shot just 2 of 23 from 3-point range and 21 of 65 overall (32.3 percent).
--Field Level Media
Ball St. | Buffalo | |
K.J. Walton 18 | Scoring | Dontay Caruthers 21 |
Tayler Persons 3 | Assists | Jeremy Harris 4 |
Blake Huggins 10 | Rebounds | Jayvon Graves 12 |
Kyle Mallers 4 | Free Throws Made | Jayvon Graves 5 |
Josh Thompson 2 | Steals | CJ Massinburg 3 |
Kyle Mallers 1 | Blocks | Jayvon Graves 2 |