Crawford passes 1,000 points but Falcons fall on road against Buffalo

1/20/2013

AMHERST, N.Y. — The Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team came up just short in its attempt to win its first road game of the season, losing to the University at Buffalo 68-65.

Jordon Crawford scored 18 points, surpassing the 1,000-point mark for his career, to lead BG (6-11, 1-3 Mid-American). The Falcons also got 16 points from A’uston Calhoun and 14 from Chauncey Orr.

Javon McCrea scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds for Buffalo (6-12, 1-3).

The Falcons started out hot, making five of their first eight shots from the field to take early leads of 7-1 and 15-3. Crawford hit a 3-pointer, then made a layup at the 17:12 mark to become the 41st player in school history to reach 1,000 points.

Buffalo scored five straight points to cut its deficit to 15-8, but Bowling Green made 6-of-8 3-pointers in the first half and led by as many as 10 before taking a 33-25 lead into halftime.

But the Bulls used a 10-2 run in the first two minutes of the second half to tie the game at 35. 

Bowling Green responded with a 17-9 run to build a 53-44 lead with 11:44 to play, only to see UB score nine straight points to tie the game with 9:31 on the clock.

From that point there were two lead changes and three ties, the last coming when Calhoun hit a pair of FTs with 3:58 left to make it 63-all.

Neither team scored until McCrea’s basket in the lane with 32.4 seconds to play. McCrea added two free throws with 12.1 seconds left to make it 67-63.

Crawford hit two free throws with 6.9 seconds left, and Skeete’s free throw with 3.9 seconds on the clock gave BG a chance to tie.

But Crawford’s running 3-point attempt was off the mark as time expired.

NOTES: Sophomore guard Jehvon Clarke did not play for the second consecutive contest because of an ankle injury. … Junior forward Craig Sealey returned to action after missing the past three games with concussion-like symptoms.