The men's basketball team held on to earn a hard-fought 73-66 victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies in a first round Mid-American Conference Tournament playoff game Monday night in Alumni Arena.
Playing in front of 6,108 fans - the Bulls' second consecutive sellout crowd - Buffalo (20-8 overall) advanced into the MAC Tournament quarterfinal round in Cleveland and is set to face the No. 2 seeded Toledo Rockets on Thursday.
The No. 7 Bulls nearly fell victim to a Northern Illinois upset, as the No. 10 Huskies tied the game, 58-58 with 5:45 left to play. A few possessions later, UB allowed Northern Illinois to take the lead when Anthony Maestranzi nailed a 3-pointer to put the Huskies up, 61-60 with 5:13 left to play.
"It's a playoff game, it's going back and forth. We turn the ball over a little bit and they hit some shots," said senior point guard Turner Battle. "Northern Illinois is a good team, they have some weapons and they hit some tough baskets."
The Bulls, however, were able to reclaim the lead for good thanks in part to an 8-0 scoring run sparked by a proficient UB offensive rebounding effort, with six points put back following offensive boards.
"I thought in the first half, we didn't rebound the ball very well and they really got after the glass, and we spent a lot of time talking about that at halftime," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "In the second half, what we did a really good job of was going to the glass."
Steals by Roderick Middleton and Battle in the final 20 seconds of the game sent the Bulls to the line and allowed UB to stretch its lead to seven points, as the Bulls were able to cling to the 73-66 victory.
In the second half alone, UB was able to grab 24 rebounds, including 13 offensive boards, compared to the Huskies' 14 total second half rebounds. Daniel Gilbert led the rebounding effort for the Bulls, seizing eight rebounds on the night, including five off of the offensive glass. In addition to crashing the boards, Gilbert led the Bulls in scoring, with 15 points on the night.
Middleton also reached double figures in scoring for Buffalo, chipping in 10 points while pulling down six rebounds.
"(Rod) works hard, he comes in and he's aggressive and that's what we need," said Battle of the Bulls' backcourt spark off of the bench. "He takes what the defense gives him. They give him a shot, he knocks it down. They don't, he creates it."
Despite only playing for half of the first half, Battle finished the night with 13 points.
Cory Sims led the Huskies in scoring with 16 points on the night, while James Hughes had a solid all-around game for Northern Illinois, scoring 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor.
The teams were even in most statistical categories. The Bulls shot 42.4 percent from the floor, while the Huskies produced a 42.6-percent connection rate from the floor.
UB will now travel to Cleveland's Gund Arena for a MAC quarterfinal contest against Toledo on Thursday at noon.
