Buffalo State Captures Coaches versus Cancer Championship
Worcester, MA --- Tournament MVP Jake Simmons (Rochester, NY) netted 20 points with six three pointers as he helped lead Buffalo State to a 79-76 victory over Colby-Sawyer in the championship game of the 2010 Coaches Versus Cancer Holiday Tournament this afternoon at the Lancer Gymnasium.
With the win the Bengals improve to 6-2 while the Chargers fall to 4-5 with the setback.
Senior Glenroy Carr (New York, NY) and sophomore Anthony Hamer (Brooklyn, NY) each recorded 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Buffalo State while junior T.O. Jackson (Bronx, NY) had a great all-around game with eight points, a match-best 12 rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks.
Colby-Sawyer was propelled by the 23 point performance of junior Will Bardaglio (Wayne, ME) who was red hot from downtown as he connected for seven for 11 from beyond the arc. Freshman John Roberts (Casco, ME) tacked on 18 points as third-year James Tobin (Brookline, NH) added 10 points and six rebounds. Freshman Robbie Burke (Cheshire, MA) chipped in with seven points, eight caroms and a pair of steals.
Both teams shot over 45 percent from the field. The Chargers held a slight edge in the rebounding column (39-34) while the two squads were even off the offensive glass (12-12). Buffalo State scored more points in the paint (40-32), off of turnovers (21-11) and in transition (10-4).
There were five lead changes and a trio of ties before Buffalo State went on a 10-0 run midway through the period for the 25-15 edge with 9:42 left. Colby-Sawyer would trim the lead to 36-31 at the 3:06 mark on a trey by Bardaglio, but the Bengals would score four of the games last six points for the 40-33 lead at the halftime break.
With the hot hand of Bardaglio who nailed a pair of three pointers, the Chargers opened the second stanza with a 9-0 spurt to trail go up by two, just four minutes into the period (42-40).
But Buffalo State regained their composure and knotted the score on a basket by Simmons in what would be a 9-0 run as they led 49-42 at the 13:00 minute mark.
Colby-Sawyer would get back into the game by outscoring the Bengals 10-2 over the next two minutes of play to take a one point lead on a traditional three-point play by Roberts (51-50).
The crowd would then see two more lead changes and a pair of ties before Buffalo State emerged with the 63-60 edge on a trey by Jake Simmons. Colby-Sawyer got within one twice over the next 90 seconds on a pair of free throws by sophomore Corey Willis (Easton, MA) and Roberts, before the Bengals went on a 9-2 run for the 74-66 lead with 2:55 remaining.
In the waning seconds Buffalo State would miss a couple of shots in back-to-back possessions, Willis would net five points to make it a 79-75 point game and then Tobin canned a pair of points at the charity stripe to make it a one-possession game.
But the Bengals held on as the Chargers wouldn’t be able to get a play off in time to knot the score following a missed free throw for the final score.
For their respective efforts, Simmons and Cartwright were each named to the All-Tournament team.
Both teams will play after the semester break. Colby-Sawyer takes on Castleton on January 4 at 6 o’clock on the road before Buffalo State heads to SUNY New Paltz on January 7 to continue SUNYAC play at 8 PM.