Box Score MIAMI – Senior center Jordan Chateau and sophomore guard Dom Grayer came off the bench to score 19 points each as the Buffalo State College men's basketball team wiped out an early 12-point deficit to post a 76-68 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Sunday night at the at the Hoop MIA Holiday Slam at Immaculata-LaSalle High School.
Eastern (4-5) scored the first ten points of the game and led by 12 midway through the first half before Buffalo (6-3) used a 14-2 run to tie the game at 24 with seven minutes left in the half and scored the final six points of the half to take the lead for good, 34-30, by the break.
Leading by two early in the second half, the Bengals outscored Eastern, 16-5, to move out to a 13-point lead, 50-37, with 14:35 left. The Warriors trailed by as many as 15 with 5:27 left before a later run cut the gap to six, 72-66, on senior center David Canny's (Torrington) dunk off a Buffalo turnover with 1:30 remaining.
The 6-foot-7 inch Chateau, who also grabbed a team-high ten rebounds, and the 6-foot-1 inch Grayer scored all 38 of their team's bench points in a combined 53 minutes, single-handedly outscoring Eastern's bench by 29. The pair was 13 of 21 from the floor. Chateau was 8-of-11 from the floor and Grayer 4-of-7 from three-point range.
Chateau entered the game averaging only five points and five rebounds and Grayer nine points. Eastern limited Buffalo top season scorer Lovell Smith to 15 points (none in the first ten minutes) -- five points below his scoring average -- and top rebounder Mike Henry to three rebounds -- five under his rebounding average -- but couldn't contend with Chateau and Grayer. Smith followed Chateau with eight rebounds.
Lindo did not commit a turnover in 34 minutes. He picked up his third foul with Eastern leading by two points with three minutes left in the first half but was not charged with his fourth until six minutes remained in the game. In 20 second-half minutes, he had eight points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal. The double-double was the fourth this year and 36th in the 92-game career of Lindo, who moved to within four of breaking the 44-year-old career rebounding record of 1,036. He also is within 55 points of 1,000.
Eastern missed its first 14 three-point field goal attempts and 14 of 15 in the game and was outrebounded by 13. The Warriors managed just 7-of-17 from the foul line.
Junior guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) led the Warriors with 18 points – 14 shy of 1,000 in his career – totaling five straight Eastern field goals midway through the second half. He also had five rebounds. Canny was 8-of-13 from the floor with two blocks and four rebounds en route to a career-high 17 points, while senior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) had 16 points (7-of-11 FG) and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Sophomore point guard Jaysen Nunez (Hartford) and freshman point guard Carlos Gonzalez (Springfield, MA) combined for 11 assists but also turned the ball over seven times in 40 minutes.
Eastern faces Eastern University Monday night at 8 p.m. at Miami. The Eagles are 5-2 and have been idle since Dec. 10.
