Visiting University at Buffalo scored the game's first six points and never looked back as the Bulls defeated Canisius 72-57 in the Big 4 Basketball Classic, presented by The Buffalo News Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 7,191 in First Niagara Center. The win, UB's third-straight, improved the Bulls to 4-1 on the season while the Golden Griffins slipped to 2-3 on the year after dropping their third straight.

For Canisius, sophomore Zach Lewis scored a team-high 14 points to go with six rebounds, an assist and a steal in 33 minutes of action. Fellow sophomore Phil Valenti added 11 points, four boards and three assists, while senior Josiah Heath chipped in eight points and six rebounds. For the game, Canisius shot 32.3 percent from the field, 24 percent from 3-point range and 75 percent from the free-throw line.

Buffalo had three players register double-figures on the final stat sheet, led by freshman guard Lamonte Bearden, who scored a game-high 23 points after he went 9-for-13 from the field, 2-for-3 from behind the 3-point arc and 3-for-5 from the charity stripe. Junior forward Justin Moss had 18 points and 12 rebounds and teammate Rodell Wigginton came off the bench to add 12 points and seven boards to the winning effort. For the game, Buffalo shot 48.3 percent from the field and the Bulls ended the night outscoring Canisius 42-24 on points in the paint.

"We knew coming in this was going to be a challenge," Canisius head coach Jim Baron said. "Buffalo is a good team. They have a good amount of experience. They have great athleticism and they have good size. We just need to get back to work and focus on ourselves getting better."

Bearden and Moss combined to scored Buffalo's first six points and 13 of the Bulls' first 16 points, as UB held a 16-6 lead with 13:35 left to play in the first half, capped by a 3-point field goal by Bearden. Canisius was able to whittle the Bulls' lead to six points at 25-19 with 4:18 left in the opening stanza on a 3-pointer from redshirt-freshman Jermaine Crumpton, but the Bulls closed out the half on a 9-0 run to take a 34-19 lead into the locker room at intermission. In the second half, Canisius was able to get its deficit to nine at 37-28 with 17:25 left on the clock after junior Jamal Reynolds sunk a pair of free-throws, but that was as close as the Blue and Gold would get for the rest of the afternoon, as Buffalo's lead ballooned to as many as 20 points at 54-34 with 10:02 left in regulation time.

Reynolds had seven points and four boards for Canisius, while redshirt-freshman Adam Weir came off the bench to add seven points, two rebounds and two assists to the losing cause. Buffalo out rebounded Canisius 40-39, but Canisius was able to control the offensive glass, as the team was credited with 15 offensive rebounds.

Canisius will return to action Wednesday, Dec. 3, when the team travels to play at Saint Peter's for the Griffs' first MAAC game of the season. Tipoff in Jersey City, N.J., is set for 7 p.m.