It had to happen sooner or later.
The UB men's basketball (6-9, 2-5 Mid-American Conference) team hadn't won a MAC road game since Jan. 19, 2002 when they beat Marshall 82-78.
The Bulls fell behind early, but rallied quickly and never relinquished the lead Sunday as they cruised to an 85-73 victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies. The win snapped a couple of Bulls' streaks that must have seemed to last an eternity.
The game was also the first home loss for the Huskies (7-11, 2-6 MAC), who were chosen to win the MAC West Division, but have struggled this season.
The Bulls, led by Turner Battle's game-high 16 points, got an outstanding team effort at both ends of the floor, as six Buffalo players posted double digit points and held NIU to 16 fewer shots.
UB won the majority of the statistical battles. They out-rebounded NIU 39-28, dished out six more assists and had nine steals to the Huskies' four.
The Buffalo big men had their way with the smaller Northern Illinois lineup that started two forwards and three guards. Mark Bortz had a double-double coming off the bench for Buffalo. He scored 11 points and led the Bulls by grabbing 10 rebounds. Freshman Yassin Idbihi had another big game for UB, scoring 16 points and pulling down 8 rebounds.
UB trailed 16-6 just minutes into the game but went on a 20-4 run that put them ahead 26-20. It was during this run that the only lead change of the game occurred. Daniel Gilbert hit a lay-up off a Mario Jordan alley-oop that gave UB the lead for the first time in the game.
The Huskies stayed in the game, getting as close as four in the second half. P.J. Smith, Northern Illinois' leading scorer with 16, hit a jump shot to open the second half scoring that made the score 44-40, which was as close as they would get in the game.
Poor shooting from the free throw line plagued NIU all night. They went to the line 36 times, but were only able to hit 21 of those shots. They missed six free throws in a row with 5:20 to go in the game.
Gilbert and Jordan had 11 and 10 points respectively and Roderick Middleton added 13 to round out UB's six double-digit scorers. Calvin Cage scored seven points coming off the bench for UB.
UB will be back in action Wednesday when they host Akron at 7 p.m. in Alumni Arena
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
