BUFFALO, NY - The Villa Vikings men's basketball team showed tremendous fight and resiliency but could not muster up enough for a second half comeback as they fell 100-91 in the opening game of the Coles Classic against Buffalo State, at the Buffalo State Sports Complex, Friday evening.

The Bengals, who improved to 1-1 on the season, were led by do-it-all junior guard Nico McLean.  The 6-foot-2 Buffalo native, finished with a game-high 29 points and also chipped in 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.  In a foul-ridden game, the Bengals were 29-of-44 at the free throw line while the Vikings were 25-of-38.  There were a total of 60 fouls called in the game, the most in a Villa game this season.

Villa (3-5) jumped out to an early 9-6 lead as junior captain Kirby Driscoll (Angola, NY/Lakeshore) got the scoring started with a layup off a nice feed from sophomore point guard Jayson Moore (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home).  That was just the beginning of Driscoll's career day which consisted of a career-high in points (11), rebounds (7), and minutes (30).  Junior Andre Diggs (Bronx, NY/Erie Community) knocked down a catch and shoot three to follow Driscoll's opening bucket.  Driscoll then knocked down a hook shot in the lane before sophomore Justin Stokes (Buffalo, NY/Middle Early College) went coast to coast and made it 9-6.  

Buffalo State rattled off a 9-0 run after to take a 15-9 lead, and eventually pushed it to 21-13 before forcing a Villa timeout.  After the timeout it was Villa who went on a run, rattling off 18 of the game's next 22 points to take a 31-25 lead.  The Bengals were able to answer, closing the half on a 21-4 run, taking an 11-point, 46-35 edge into the locker room.

The Vikings quickly worked the deficit down to eight after Driscoll knocked down two free throws but another 8-0 Bengals run, capped by two triples from Jordan Glover, which gave them their largest lead of the game, 57-41.

Driscoll got the deficit back to single digits with 13:20 left when he corralled an offensive rebound and finished through heavy traffic.  The junior finished 4-of-6 from the floor and had three offensive rebounds.  The Bengals again got the lead back up to 16 later in the second half but the fight of Villa wouldn't die as it was down to eight with 3:07 left.  That would however, be the closest Villa would get.

Villa shot over 48 percent from the field.  Freshman big man Darius Huggins (Buffalo, NY/Lackawanna) was 9-of-13 from the floor and finished with 20 points.  It's the fourth consecutive game that Huggins has notched double-figure scoring numbers.  

Freshman Donte Campbell (Buffalo, NY/Huch Tech) did what he always does for Villa, provide a spark, and instant offense off the bench.  He scored a career-high 21 points in 27 minutes and was 10-of-13 at the free throw line. Stokes finished with 16 points while Diggs scored 11.

Villa will now take on Bluffton University (OH) at 4 pm. on Saturday in the consolation game.