AMHERST, N.Y.  — For a brief couple of seconds, nothing that preceded it — Buffalo’s second-half surge, its success in transition, its massive advantage at the free throw line — seemed to matter. 

In these moments, all that mattered was this: the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team trailed by just three points (80-77), and had the ball, after cutting a 12-point deficit with 1:36 remaining to one possession with a frenzied run down the stretch. 

On its last best opportunity, and with no timeouts remaining, Bona made sure the ball was in the hands of its potential hero: Kyle Lofton, who’d already collected a career-high 15 buckets in his first breakout scoring performance of the season. 

The sophomore point guard’s 10-foot jumper fell short, however.

And with that, so did his team’s chances, as the Bonnies fell to Big 4 rival Buffalo, 84-79, in an intense, high-level matchup before a lively crowd of 6,003 inside Alumni Arena on Monday night.

Clinging to a 57-56 lead with under 10 minutes left, Bona gave up 16 of the next 20 points to fall behind 12 nearing the under-4 timeout. A rarity, it was outplayed in the post, as Buffalo’s Josh Mballa went for 14 points and 15 rebounds and Bona’s Osun Osunniyi was limited to six points and four boards in 17 foul-plagued minutes. With ‘Shoon on the bench for much of the night, the Bulls took advantage with frequent trips to the line, making 23-of-30 free throws to the Bonnies’ 7-of-9 effort. 

It all spelled the end of Bona’s seven-game win streak and swept away some of the momentum for coach Mark Schmidt’s team (8-5), which will enter its Atlantic 10 opener on Sunday at George Washington on a loss. 

“It was nip-and-tuck, and then they went on a run; we got stagnant offensively,” Schmidt said afterward. “Give our guys credit, we fought back and made it a game, so our guys didn’t quit …

“I thought Kyle played extremely well; he kept us in the game. But it seemed like they got every loose ball at the end. And if we got it, we dropped it out of bounds; if they got it, they hit a 3. But it was a good college game and now it’s on to the Atlantic 10, and it’s our second season.”

The Bulls’ strong second half, in which they went 18-for-22 at the line and scored 49 points, overshadowed a strong start for the Bonnies, who jumped out to a 17-6 lead on 8-of-13 shooting and built it to 12 (26-14) before UB clawed back to make it a three-point game at halftime. 

Jayvon Graves racked up 28 points for the Bulls, which partly overshadowed a tremendous outing from Lofton, who totaled 30 points on 15-for-30 shooting, two off his career high, and eight assists. 

But the numbers that made the biggest difference, according to Schmidt, were these: the Bulls’ 43-37 advantage on the glass and their 29-13 edge in fastbreak points. 

“They’re a team that really pushes it and makes you pay for turnovers,” said Schmidt, whose team committed 14 giveaways, before making sure to add: “Mballa was the best big guy on the court.”

Was Buffalo’s huge advantage in free throws a sign that the Bulls, a team that prides itself on forcing its will at both ends, were the more aggressive team? Not necessarily, Schmidt said. 

“We had a (52-32 advantage in points in the paint),” noted the 13th-year coach, whose team did, indeed, do much of its damage at the rim. “If you look at that, that means we were more aggressive. We drove, we scored. They didn’t foul us. They drove, we fouled them.”

Down 79-67, Bona began its frenetic run with back-to-back buckets from Lofton and Justin Winston. With the help of a couple of turnovers, missed UB shots and a big offensive rebound, it pulled to within 80-75 on a Lofton 3 with 59 seconds left and 80-77 on a pair of Jaren English free throws with 51 tickets left. 

But that’s as close as Bona came to what would have been one of its most significant wins of the non-conference. 

“We knew our guys weren’t going to quit,” said Schmidt, whose team has dropped back-to-back games to the Bulls after winning six of seven from 2011-’17. “We got some turnovers, we made some plays. So yeah, we’re not going to quit, we’re not going to lay down. That’s a credit to our guys and the guys we have.”

Dominick Welch added 14 points while English finished with 13 for the Bonnies. Much of their defensive deficiencies centered on the absence of Osunniyi, who picked up his second foul at the 17:16 mark of the first half and sat for the remainder of the period, picked up his fourth with 9:18 remaining and fouled out with 4:36 left. Bona also had trouble stopping UB from the perimeter, as the Bulls connected on 6-of-12 in the first half to close the gap and 9-for-21 for the game.  

And though it ended the calendar year on a loss, Bona can say this: It still went 8-5 after starts of 0-3 and 1-4 … a far cry from last year’s disastrous 4-9 mark. 

“When we were 0-3 and 1-4 and we were banged up, if somebody said that we were going to be 8-5, I probably would have taken it,” Schmidt said. “There’s some games (we could have had), but I’m a firm believer in your record is what it is. 

“Eight and five is better than being 5-8. Now it’s our second season. We’ve got 18 A-10 games, and it starts Sunday.”