BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Villa Maria men's basketball team played in an extremely exciting and competitive battle against Bryant and Stratton-Buffalo. Villa turned it on defensively in the second half, which helped spark a comeback and gave them an opportunity at the buzzard to win the game. Trent Cordone had a good look from three, but was unable to convert and the team fell by a final score of 89-88. 
 
The Vikings have dropped three straight games to start the year and sit at 0-3, while the Bobcats move to 7-3 and won back-to-back games.
 
At the start of the contest, Villa was slow out of the gate scoring just four points in the opening four minutes of play. At the 12:48 mark, the Vikings were down 20-8 and called a time out. They hit a spark coming out of the break and it started with a three-point play by Juwan Beale. Beale then knocked down a three pointer and made a layup to cut the deficit to 20-16. Jeriah Williams joined the party with a three-point play of his own and then a Gianluka Ndukanma layup completed the 13-0 comeback as the team took a 21-20 lead. The Bobcats ended the final 4:42 of the first half on a 17-9 run and Villa was down 50-40 going into halftime. 
 
Beale scored 14 points in 18 minutes of play, shooting 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. Kevin Goode was all over the court, scoring eight points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists in 17 minutes of action in the first half. 
 
Nolan Shephard began the next Villa run at the 17:23 mark of the second frame, making a layup to bring the score to 57-49. Cordone, Beale and Goode all made buckets of their own thanks to a couple of steals, knocking down the deficit to just two points. With 15:14 on the clock, Beale tied the game at 57 with two free-throw makes. The Vikings had to continually fend off the Bobcats in order to stop any major runs and they go contributions from their bench pieces such as Tim Payne, Jordan Heine and Williams. 
 
With 5:14 remaining in the game, Villa was down 83-74 and once again began their comeback. Beale started with another pair of free-throws and Cordone followed with a three-pointer that cut the Bobcats lead to four. At 1:24, Beale was clutch with a corner three that kept them in the game with the score at 89-86. A minute later, Goode was able to collect a steal and draw a foul, putting him at the charity stripe because of the double bonus. He knocked them both down and Villa was down just one point. The Bobcats were sent to the free-throw line with 14 seconds left, but missed the first shot, which was corralled by Cordone who called a timeout. After a missed shot by Beale, Cordone was able to get the rebound and get a shot off at the horn, but it hit off the rim. The Vikings fell by a final score of 89-88. 
 
Beale finished with 30 points in 37 minutes of action, going 10-for-12 from the free-throw line, while grabbing eight rebounds. Goode scored 17 points of his own and ended the day with eight rebounds and seven assists. Cordone and Radford each contributed double-digit scoring with ten points apiece. 

The next competition for the Vikings will be on Thursday, Feb. 11 against Bryant and Stratton-Rochester. The game will begin at 7p.m.
 
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