In a game of streaks, the Buffalo Bandits had the final say Friday night and scored a 17-16 victory over the Syracuse Smash.

The win evened the Bandits' National Lacrosse League record at 2-2 and came before only 8,129 at Marine Midland Arena. It was the smallest home crowd in the eight year history of the franchise.

Chris Panos gave the Bandits the win when he scored with 31.7 seconds left after taking a phenomenal behind-the-head pass from Rich Kilgour, who had drawn the Smash to him on a two-on-two breakout.

Panos had four goals while John Tavares, Neil Doddridge and Troy Cordingley all scored three times for Buffalo. Tavares, who also had six assists, was chosen the player of the game.

Syracuse (1-2) got five goals and an assist from Paul Gait and four goals and two assists from Chris Prat.

The Smash had tied it at 16-16 when Mike Accursi scored from his knees with 2:44 left, 47 seconds after Prat had made it 16-15.

Gait kept Syracuse's hopes alive with his fifth goal of the game, with 4:01 remaining. It cut the Buffalo advantage to 16-14.

Panos restored Buffalo's three-goal lead with a pretty behind-the-neck score after a nice pass from rookie Matt Steinwald. It came with 4:57 remaining and was Panos' third of the evening.

Cordingley made it 15-13 for the Bandits when he scored on a sweet diving shot from the left of the crease with 8:30 left to play.

Gait drew the Smash within 14-13 when he scored on a high shot with 9:28 remaining.

Syracuse ended Buffalo's three-goal run on a power play score by Prat with 10:45 left, cutting the Bandits' advantage to 14-12.

Doddridge scored on a breakaway with 12:06 left to give the Bandits a 14-11 lead, just 36 seconds after Panos had scooped a rebound and scored to make it 13-11.

Tavares' third goal of the game, just 1:11 into the fourth quarter, gave the Bandits the lead back at 12-11.

The Bandits dominated the third quarter before Syracuse scored the final two goals of the period to notch it at 11-11.

Gait and Jeff Klodzen scored for the Smash in the final 1:45 to erase a 11-9 Buffalo lead.

The Bandits got their lead thanks to a five goal flurry. Shaydon Santos started it off with two goals in nine seconds, Tavares added another two in a 22-second span, then Doddridge scored with 2:38 left to give Buffalo its 11-9 edge.

Prat started the second half scoring for the Smash.

Both teams discovered their scoring touch in the second quarter as Syracuse notched seven of the 11 goals in the period to jump ahead, 8-6 at halftime.

Gait and Accursi scored in the final 1:56 for the Smash to break a 6-6 deadlock. Gait drove a bouncer past Marty O'Neill, and Accursi, who has spent the last two summers as a Buffalo Gambler, scored off a pretty feed from Klodzen with 7.6 seconds left in the half.

It was the third time in the quarter that Syracuse held a two-goal cushion. Kariwate Mitchell's goal with 8:16 remaining had given the Smash a 6-4 lead before Panos and Jamie Batley scored for Buffalo to tie it at 6-6.

Cordingley's goal with 10:54 left broke a four-goal Syracuse run and brought the Bandits within 5-4.

The Smash scored four straight in a span of two minutes against O'Neill, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead. Al Jones started the streak, then Gait, Klodzen and Tony Millon all scored for the Smash.

Doddridge had opened the scoring in the second quarter, beating Syracuse's Derek Collins for a 3-1 lead just 1:13 into the period. Buffalo emerged from a tight first quarter with a 2-1 lead.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Syracuse Smash (1-2)              1  7  3  5  --  16 
Buffalo Bandits (3-2)             2  4  5  6  --  17

SYRACUSE SMASH                BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Gait           5 - 1     6    Tavares        3 - 6     9
Prat           4 - 1     5    Doddridge      3 - 2     5 
Klodzen        2 - 3     5    Panos          4 - 0     4
M Benedict     0 - 5     5    Cordingley     3 - 1     4
Accursi        2 - 2     4    Santos         2 - 2     4
Mitchell       1 - 1     2    Batley         1 - 3     4 
Collins        0 - 2     2    D Kilgour      1 - 3     4 
Fay            0 - 2     2    R Kilgour      0 - 2     2 
Jones          1 - 0     1    O'Neill        0 - 2     2 
Millon         1 - 0     1    Ogilvie        0 - 2     2 
Alexander      0 - 1     1    Rosa           0 - 2     2 
O Benedict     0 - 1     1    T Kilgour      0 - 1     1 
Halladay       0 - 1     1    Steinwald      0 - 1     1 
Rankin         0 - 1     1 

Shots on goal           53    Shots on goal           54
Saves made by           37    Saves made by           37
   Collins           33          O'Neill           37
   Rankin             4
Loose Balls             99    Loose Balls            104
Faceoffs Won            16    Faceoffs Won            21

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BUFFALO NEWS ***

Article courtesy of The Ultimate Buffalo Bandits Site. Thanks to Brent Clark for providing the game stats.