ONEONTA, NY – Roderick Epps (Uniondale, NY/Uniondale) tallied 22 points and three steals, but Buffalo State (15-9, 11-7 SUNYAC) could not get past Oneonta (13-12, 10-8 SUNYAC) in the final minutes of play as the Bengals fell 81-77 in the last game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon.

Epps led the Bengals on offense. Chris Thompson (Far Rockaway, NY/Channel View) recorded 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Lovell Smith (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) and Chris Cartwright (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) each added 12 points. Jordan Glover (Buffalo, NY/St. Joe's) chipped in nine points and a team-high five steals.

Oneonta went up 4-0 to start the game and pushed its lead to five points, 8-3, at 17:41. Just over a minute later, Smith hit back-to-back fast break layups to put the Bengals ahead by one point. The score remained close as both teams traded the lead back-and-forth. Buffalo State went up 28-22, its largest lead of the game at 7:19, but the Red Dragons quickly responded and went on a 19-5 run to take an eight point lead into the final two minutes of the half. Oneonta maintained control of the lead and headed into halftime up 45-38.

In the second half, Buffalo State cut the Red Dragons lead down to three points with 18:13 on the clock. Oneonta, however, once again responded and pushed back out to an eight point lead. Midway through the period, the Red Dragons hit a layup to go up by 11. The Bengals fought their way back and pulled to within one point of the Red Dragons at 6:14. In the final minute, Buffalo State tied things up at 77-77 off of a layup from Cartwright. With 30 seconds to play, the Red Dragons hit jumper to go up by two. A quick foul from Buffalo State sent Oneonta to the line where the Red Dragons went 1-for-2 and added a point to their lead, 80-77. Epps launched a three in the final seconds, but it did not fall and Oneonta would manage to hang on for the win.

Buffalo State finished shooting 40.3 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from long range and 65 percent from the free throw line. Oneonta had a strong shooting performance, finishing 53.5 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from the 3-point line. The Red Dragons committed 24 turnovers, but held a 46-34 rebounding advantage.   

The Bengals finished the regular season tied for fourth, but will enter playoffs as the fifth-seed due to tiebreakers. Buffalo State will travel to Brockport for SUNYAC quarterfinals on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.