Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Nashville, TN – The Eagles traveled to Tennessee to take on Welch College, a NCCAA school, who BUF was playing for the 2^nd time this season. The Eagles won in Graceville on December 3^rd and looked to sweep the series Friday night January 9^th. Coach Hughes made changes in his starting lineup due to injury and other factors. David Pina, Solomon Sutton, Kalleal Jones, Jordan Isaac, and Omari Henry started for BUF. To open the game, Pina grabbed a rebound off a Welch miss and assisted Henry who drained a 3 pointer. Jones hit a free throw to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead. At 8-6, Pina grabbed an offensive rebound to give the Eagles a 2^nd chance at a possession, Pina passed to Jones, who kicked it to Isaac for 3 to give the Eagles a 5-point lead at 11-6. Welch hit a 3-pointer to follow and then Coach Hughes called a timeout.

After a few missed shots from each team, Thomas Curlee stole the ball and drove for a fast break layup making the score 13-9. Welch went on a quick 5-0 run to take the lead at 14-13 but BUF moved the ball up the floor quickly and Henry passed to Sutton who laid it in to put the Eagles back on top at 15-14.
At 19-17 BUF, Henry stole the Welch inbounds pass, drove to the basket where he was fouled, and sank both free throws to put his team up 4 points, 21-17. Welch responded with a jumper.  Isaac, on the following possession, finished by going up and under to maintain the 4-point Eagles lead. Welch went up the floor to try a layup, but Henry went up and swatted it at the rim. BUF missed on the other end and Welch hit a 3 cutting it to 1.
The rematch between these two teams was a competitive contest. After an Isaac free throw, Jones found Pina in the lane who laid it in to go up 4, 26-22. On the other end, Pina played good defense and forced a bad shot which he rebounded. Pina passed to Pratt who assisted to Curlee on the wing for a 3-pointer putting the Eagles up by 7 at 29-22.

Welch hit an open shot back down the floor, provoking Coach Hughes to call a timeout due to the Eagles did not getting back on defense and leaving a man wide open. Following the timeout Pina passed to Curlee on the wing who drained another 3 to go up 32-24. Welch responded with a 3 to cut it to 5.  On offense BUF missed a shot but Amonte Harmon jumped up to secure the rebound and give the Eagles a 2^nd chance, passed to a cutting Jones who finished at the cup, making it a 34-27 game. Harmon was playing in his 2^nd regular season game this season and 4^th game overall as he played in the 2 exhibitions in December. In this game he saw the most action yet and solidified himself as someone in the rotation.

The Eagles took a 7-point advantage into halftime at 40-33.

In the 2^nd half Jones started the scoring with a jumper to go up 42-33. Henry hit a pair of free throws to go up 11 at 44-33 and take the biggest lead of the game for the Eagles. Welch hit a 3 pointer and a layup to cut the lead to 6 but Curlee drained another 3 to make it 47-36 with 17:14 left. Welch made a push and by 13:02 left on the clock cut the lead to 2-points at 51-49.   They stole the ball, hit a layup while being fouled to tie it, and went ahead 52-51 by making the foul shot.
Jones answered with a jump shot and the Eagles went back up 53-52 with 12:20 left. On the following possession Welch hit a 3 to go up 2.  Welch hit a shot to go up 3.   Jones had a nice up and under finish as he was fouled, and he made the free throw to tie it at 57-57 with 11:25 left. Welch came back down and made a layup to go up 59-57.  Henry made a shot to tie at 59-59.

The same thing happened as Welch hit a shot to take the lead, but Henry finished on the other end to tie it back up, now 61-61 with under 10 minutes to play. Pina grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to go up 2 at 63-61.  Henry assisted to Jones who made another jumper to go up 4 points with 8:45 left. Welch hit a long 2 to cut it to 2 points. The teams were trading buckets. Welch made a layup to tie it at 65-65 with 8:06 left. Henry found Sutton with 7:40 remaining and he laid it in to go up 2.

Welch went back in front 70-67, but Isaac drove to the rim and made a shot as he was contacted for a foul. At the line, he made the shot to tie it 70-70 with 6:25 left. Welch hit a jumper at the other end, but Henry answered with a 3 to go up by 1 with 5:46 left. Welch called timeout. Out of this timeout, Isaac stole the ball and was fouled. He went to the line and swished both free throws to go up 3. Henry got a steal and found a cutting Isaac to go up 5. Welch hit a free throw and a 3 to cut it back to 1 but again Isaac drove to the cup and got fouled hitting both free throws.

The Eagles were up 3 with 3:41 remaining. Pina grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back to push it to a 5-point advantage. Welch hit a 3 pointer to cut it back to 2 with 2:20 to play in the game. Welch made a free throw and cut it to 1. Isaac drove again and went to the foul line making both to go up 3. On the night, Isaac was 8-9 at the line including some very important ones down the stretch.

Welch hit a jumper and down 1 point drove to the rim to take the lead but Pina leaped for an emphatic blocked shot rebounded by Isaac and thrown up ahead to Jones who kicked it Henry for the jump shot. He nailed the shot to put the Eagles up 3 points with 1:22 to play. With 45 seconds to play Harmon got his hands on a big offensive rebound and put it back in to go up 5. With 29 second left Welch shot a 3 that missed, and Pina grabbed the rebound. He finished with 17 rebounds, the team high for the season. Welch hit a layup with 20 seconds left to make it a 4-point game. To close, Welch shot again and missed. Jones grabbed the rebound and threw it up ahead to Curlee who laid it up. The Eagles won 90-84!

On the night Isaac finished with 21 points and Henry with 20 points, 6 steals (a season high for the team) and 5 assists. Curlee had 17 points off the bench and a team season high 4 3-pointers. Pina had 7 points and 17 rebounds and Jones had 12 points and 8 rebounds.
 

Tuscaloosa- Saturday January 10 the Eagles continued the roadtrip on to Alabama to take on Stillman College, an HBCU NAIA school. This game started in an odd way with a technical foul on the home team before tip as there was an issue with the book, though not announced creating confusion among all. Henry shot for BUF and hit a free throw as the music in the arena was still playing. After tip-off Jones had the next 2 baskets to put the Eagles up 5-0. Isaac hit a 3 from the corner and it was 8-2.

Stillman fought back and it was tied 8-8 and then led by a score of 10-8 nearly 3 minutes into the first half. The Stillman Tigers were on a 6-0 run. The Eagles broke the drought with a pair of free throws from Jones, scoring 6 of BUF's first 10 points of the game. Sutton hit a driving layup to tie it at 12-12 with 15:50 on the clock. To tie it at 14, Henry assisted to a cutting Curlee. The Tigers went on a 5-0 run to make it 19-14 but the Eagles went on an 8-0 run of their own to get the lead back. Henry nailed a 3 to make it 17-19 and hit a driving layup to make it 19-19. He hit another 3 to make it an 8-0 run and put the Eagles up 22-19 with 11:29 left in the half. The 8-0 Eagles run was a personal Omari Henry 8-0 run.  

The Tigers went back in the lead ahead by 3 but Harmon hit a pair of free throws to make the deficit just 1 with 9:58 left. Off an assist from Jones Henry put the Eagles ahead by 1 with a layup. The Tigers made a shot to go back up 1 but Sutton answered with an offensive rebound and putback. With 8:53 left in the 1^st it was 28-27 Eagles.

Like before, the Tiger hit a shot on their end to go up 1 but Jones made one off an assist from Oliver Pratt for BUF to go back up 1-point. Down 2 at 30-32, Jones claimed an offensive rebound and went back up to tie it at 32 with 7:37 to play. Stillman pushed ahead with a 6-0 run. The run was broken by big-to-big passing inside as Pina dished to Sutton who made it 34-38. KJ Johnsson hit a jumper to make it 36-38 and then Pina tied it 38-38, a 6-0 BUF run. Stillman hit a pair of three throws and had a run out dunk to go up 4. The Eagles would respond again as Pratt would steal the ball and throw it up ahead to Henry who threw down a dunk over a Stillman defender. He went to the line and completed the 3-point play making the score 41-42 with 1:42 left. Shortly, he got the ball at the top of the key, did a stutter and go move blowing by his defender and getting the lay-up to go. Stillman got a technical foul and Henry hit 2 more free throws.  Henry finished the first half with 18 points.
 

The Eagles went into the locker room down 6 at 45-51.

To begin the 2^nd half Pina secured a rebound and went the length of the floor laying it in, cutting the lead to 4 at 47-51. Curlee hit a 3 cutting the deficit to 3 at 50-53. Stillman then went on a 6-0 run making it a 9-point advantage 59-50 and then 12 at 66-54. Harmon had a tip in with 10:28 to go and cut the lead back to 9.   With 9:41 left in the game, down 12, the Eagles went on their own 6-0 run. Starting with a Harmon layup, followed by a steal by Sutton and a pass to a cutting Jones for a layup. On the next trip down the floor, an elbow jumper by Jones cut it to 6 points, 66-72 with 7:36 left. Stillman hit two free throws, but Jones hit a jumper again to get it back to 6 with 6:50 remaining. Henry hit 2 free throw himself to keep at 6 points. The score was 72-78 with just under 6 minutes left but the Eagles struggled to get it back to single digits. The Eagles shot just 27% from 3 as a team and getting back into the game without the 3 ball created difficulties. Stillman hit a jump shot and then a 3 to go up 11 followed by extending the lead to 15 by the time 3:30 was left. In the end the Tigers won by 14, 95-81.

Henry ended the game with 22 points, going 8-9 at the line and shooting 100% from 3. Jones had 20 points along with 8 points and 10 rebounds from Pina.
 
 

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