Chippewas Lose To Buffalo, 89-84, In MAC Title Game

CLEVELAND (AP) — Buffalo's going to the NCAA tournament led by a March Madness icon.

Bobby Hurley is back inside the brackets.

A bratty point guard on two title teams at Duke, Hurley guided the Bulls to the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship on Saturday night as the Bulls beat top-seeded Central Michigan 89-84 to earn the league's automatic NCAA bid.

Xavier Ford and Shannon Evans scored 18 points apiece for the second-seeded Bulls (23-9), who earned their first league title in their third title game appearance. They're heading into the NCAA field with Hurley, their fiery coach and former Duke point guard, who led the Blue Devils to three straight Final Fours and consecutive national championships in 1991 and 1992.

Chris Fowler scored 27 points for the top-seeded Chippewas (23-8), who won just three conference games and were the No. 11 seed a year ago.

Lamonte Bearden added 13 points for Buffalo, playing in its third MAC title game. Buffalo won its first crown despite getting just 10 points from Justin Moss, the MAC's player of the year slowed by an ankle injury.

In just his second year at Buffalo, Hurley, who remains the NCAA career leader in assists, has taken the Bulls farther than they've ever gone before.

Although his hair has grayed, Hurley hasn't lost any of his intensity. Placing his hands on the small of his back the way he did when wearing No. 11 during his playing days, the son of a New Jersey high school coaching legend split time throughout the tense final encouraging his players and griping to the officials about calls that didn't go Buffalo's way.

After Bulls forward Will Regan dropped two free throws to put them up 89-84 and the horn sounded, Hurley shot both arms in the air and was swarmed by his coaching staff. He was handed a black championship T-shirt that said "Tournament Champions" and a few Buffalo players ran into the crowd to celebrate with Buffalo fans.

It wasn't long before some of the crowd chanted, "Bob-by Hur-ley."

This was the win Buffalo had been longed for. The Bulls had come close in 2005, blowing a 19-point lead in the second half and losing on a buzzer-beater to Ohio.

That was before Hurley arrived and changed the attitude of a program that will finally get to strut deeper into March.

Buffalo finally pulled away from Central Michigan midway through the second half, taking a 66-60 lead on a 3-pointer by Evans. Fowler kept the Chippewas close, but Ford and Evans answered and Jarryn Skeete's 3-pointer gave the Bulls an 83-72 lead with 2:14 to go.

Central Michigan got within 87-84 on Fowler's layup with 2.7 seconds left before Regan put it away at the line — the way his coach once closed out games.

The Bulls led 42-39 following a fast-paced first 20 minutes during which the schools showed why they were the tourney's two highest seeds.

Moss, who entered the tourney averaging 18.4 points per game, struggled getting up and down the floor. He sprained his ankle in practice on Wednesday, scored just five points and was slowed by foul trouble in Friday's semifinal win over Akron and was clearly slowed by an injury that couldn't have come at a worse time.

However, the 6-foot-7 junior gutted it out and his three-point play with 3:49 left in the first half gave the Bulls, who trailed by six, a 34-32 lead.

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