Sluggish First Half Proves Costly at Buffalo State

The Heidelberg men’s basketball team trailed 44-20 at the half and could not complete a comeback falling 77-68 to Buffalo State in the Buffalo State Holiday Inn Invitational hosted by the Bengals in Buffalo, N.Y.
 
Junior forward Travis Kinn (Alvada, Ohio / New Riegel) recorded his fourth double-double on the year, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead Heidelberg (4-6) against the host Bengals (1-6). Backing Kinn was Josh Calver (Shelby, Ohio / Shelby) with 16 points, while Derrick Flynn (Cleveland, Ohio / Padua Franciscan) recorded a career-high 12 points, to go along with five rebounds and two steals.
 
Heidelberg will face St. Lawrence in the consolation game tomorrow, Jan. 3, at 2:00 p.m. Buffalo State will take on Widener in the championship game. Widener topped St. Lawrence in game one of the invitational, 97-93.
 
The Berg scored first in the contest and took a five-point lead following a Kinn three-point play with 14:05 on the clock. Buffalo State responded with an 8-0 run that went on to ignite a 37-9 scoring blitz over the course of the final 14 minutes of the first period to hold a 24 point lead at the intermission.
 
Buffalo State shot 62.1 percent (18-of-29) in the first half compared to a 20.6 clip (7-of-34) by the Berg. Heidelberg suffered through scoring droughts of nearly six minutes and three minutes.
 
The second half featured the Berg striving for a comeback. Heidelberg pulled within seven points on two occasions with the latter following a Calver three-pointer with 42 seconds left in the game. Buffalo State connected on 4-of-6 at the charity stripe down the stretch to keep the Berg at bay and held on for the win.