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CLEVELAND – In the hours leading up to the MAC tournament championship game, Buffalo University basketball coach Nate Oats received an SMS from former UB star Wes Clark.
Clark knows how to identify success and successful playoff players. Clark helped the Bulls win the 2018 MAC Championship Championship and qualify for the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
But in an exchange with Clark, Oats noticed something Clark had told him about Bull guard Jeremy Harris.
"He said something along the lines, that Jeremy was about to leave today," Oats said. "It's like," I just spoke to him, and I could tell in his voice. Believe me, Jeremy is about to leave today. "
Harris scored 31 points, a top in the match, to allow the Bulls to win 87-73 against Bowling Green for the Mid-American Conference tournament championship on Saturday at the Quicken Loans Arena. The Bulls have won their fourth MAC championship and their fourth participation in the NCAA tournament since 2015. UB won the conference titles and received automatic bids in 2015, 2016 and 2018.
"My teammates were very good at giving me the ball, giving me room," said Harris. "My coaches and my coach Oats, he just believes in me. I have never had a coach who has believed me so much, and I thank him very much. "
The Bulls improve to 31-3, a MAC record for wins in a season in men's basketball. The Bulls enter the NCAA Tournament after 12 straight wins and will learn their destination when the NCAA announces Sunday the group of 68 teams.
Harris continued his torrid tournament pace. He entered the match after scoring double digits in UB's last five games, including 23 points in an 82-46 win over Akron on Thursday in the quarter-finals.
"Jeremy has just continued cooking," said Oats. "We call him" Mr. Mars, sort of for a reason. He was really good two out of three (games) last year, he was really good two out of three here this year. "
In March, UB striker Montell McRae said his best result was Harris.
"Mars gives you a different point of view, and the teams start playing harder and harder," said McRae. "Jeremy can not wait to see March, and Mars is here."
Even Harris's teammates knew he was controlling his game, starting with an emphatic dunk 94 seconds after the game against Bowling Green (22-12).
"This dunk," said McRae. "That dunk was so big, that's how I knew it was stuck from the beginning."
CJ Massinburg, MAC player of the year, echoed Oats' sentiments.
"Jeremy cooked, man, he cooked," said Massinburg, who scored 17 points against Bowling Green. "Thirteen for 20 (shot), that's good, man. This man over there? It is something different. "
Bowling Green coach Michael Huger spoke not only about Harris 'production but also about Jayvon Graves' perimeter production. Graves scored 17 points and scored four of eight points at three points; UB went 13 to 33 on 3 points against the Falcons (22-12).
"It was a lot of Harris, he was very hot," said Huger. He was driving, he had doubled, he finished with 31, 32 points. He played extremely well. So he was the real difference in the game. And Graves did his job. That's what he does, he shot 3s and we were ready to give up that to take the records, and they made the games. "
The Bulls led up 15 points in the first half and Bowling Green scored his first three-man score before he had less than four minutes left in the half. But Daeqwon Plowden's shot reduced the lead to UB at 36-31, being part of a 14-3 run in the final at 4:13 that reduced the lead at UB to 39-38, while he remained 1:30 in the half.
The Bulls and Falcons traded six times in advance of two minutes midway through the second half, and UB opened the scoring to 11-3 to open the score at 74-68. there remained less than five minutes.
But Nick Perkins made a foul with 4:26, a fourth foul plus a technical foul, and Justin Turner and Demajeo Wiggins had three free throws out of four to reduce the lead to UB 74-71.
The Bulls did not panic, however. Eighteen seconds later, Graves' 3-pointer brought UB's lead to seven points, sending the ball to a decisive 13-2 run that closed the game for the Bulls.
"One thing we've been working on all year since the off season is mental resistance," Massinburg said. "We retired and the coaches wanted to dismantle us and just try to strengthen our mental strength to be really strong.
"For moments like these. A guy receives a technology and we try not to let it affect us. We had seen that they had reduced the number to four and maybe even three, but we were not worried. We attracted everyone and nobody reacted excessively or started shouting at Nick. We only knew what time it was. It was time saving. "
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