By Jonah Bronstein<br><a href="mailo:bronsteinj@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Jonah</a>
AMHERST — Crouching in his defensive stance, Sean Smiley’s mad-scientist grin said it all.
Smiley didn’t have the greatest impact on the Buffalo Bulls 83-73 win over Temple on Saturday. In eight minutes, he had two points, one assist and one steal. But the wiry streak shooter harassed Temple point guard Luis Guzman into consecutive turnovers during a critical point in the game, and seemed to enjoy it as much as any 3-point shot he’d ever hit.
“When Sean gets in to it,” teammate Andy Robinson said, “you can tell.”
Robinson was one of several Bulls whose defense was more damaging to the visiting Owls. But Smiley’s enthusiasm revealed the secret to UB’s defensive prowess.
They revel in getting stops.
“We have fun playing defense,” said forward Max Boudreau. “And that scares a lot of people.”
UB (3-2) didn’t defend well at the start Saturday. Temple (3-2) hit 10 of its first 12 shots, and All-America candidate Dionte Christmas had 16 points in the first 13 minutes, to help build a double-digit lead.
Robinson came off the bench and held Christmas scoreless for the rest of the half. “My mindset was to slow him down a little bit and make catches tougher for him,” said the senior guard who also scored seven points in the final few minutes of the half to help UB cut the lead to 39-33.
Christmas came out and hit an NBA-range 3 right off the bat in the second half to put Temple back up by 10, and a 3-pointer by Ryan Brooks at the 13-minute mark had UB down by a dozen.
Then, with Smiley, Boudreau and fellow reserve John Boyer on the floor, the Bulls went on a 14-0 run that both delighted and surprised the crowd of 2,035 at Alumni Arena.
The Bulls tied the game on a 3-pointer by Rodney Pierce, and went ahead 58-56 when Robinson threw down a one-handed dunk over Temple big man Michael Eric.
The Owls regained the lead once more, but Niagara Falls native Greg Gamble immediately evened the score at 62 with an aggressive driving bank shot, then found Calvin Betts on an in-bounds play for a layup that but the Bulls up for good.
The win snapped a two-game slide for UB that included Tuesday’s home loss to Niagara.
“Our mindset is that we are a really good team,” said Betts, who led the Bulls with a career-high 18 points and seven rebounds. “We’re going to take bumps along the road, but we have to keep moving.”
Gamble contributed 15 points, while Robinson had 13. Rodney Pierce scored all of his 12 points in the second half. Boudreau scored 11 points, and grabbed five rebounds.
Temple shot better than 52 percent from the field, but allowed the Bulls to shoot 53 percent, and earn 14 more free throws.
“And they had 10 offensive rebounds,” Owls coach Fran Dunphy said. “That was the critical stat.”
Christmas finished with 25 points for Temple.
Defeating the defending Atlantic 10 champions gave the Bulls a a shot of confidence heading into Thursday’s showdown with visiting Connecticut, the No. 2 team in the country. UB coach Reggie Witherspoon said beating a team with Temple’s tradition is a boost for the program.
“It gives you a little bit of presence. People see the score scroll across (on television) and it gives you recognition,” he said. “Now we still have to lace them up and get ready for our next game. That’s for sure.”
