Bulls turn the page with convincing win

With 13:34 left in Tuesday night's men's basketball game between UB and Northern Illinois at Alumni Arena, Bulls senior Danny Gilbert committed one of his four steals and was immediately fouled. The Mighty Maniacs broke into a raucous chorus of "Danny Hustle," applauding the gritty forward's effort.

By the time the Bulls (11-5, 4-4 MAC) held onto an 86-80 win over the visiting Huskies (7-10, 3-6 MAC), it could have been "Turner Hustle" or "Mario Hustle" or "Roderick Hustle."

Five Bulls scored in double figures in a physical game that defined the term "team win."

"We're a dangerous team," said Bulls point guard Turner Battle, who scored 16 points. "Anyone can get hot."

Both teams caught fire a few times in the game and Battle ignited the flame. After stealing the ball and converting a layup off of the Huskies' opening possession, he scored 11 points in helping UB open up a 29-13 lead.

The Huskies would come back, buoyed by three 3-pointers by forward Todd Peterson, who was ranked second in the MAC in 3-point percentage heading into the game. A Cory Sims layup with 6:25 on the clock brought Northern Illinois to within five.

That's when Bulls center Yassin Idbihi made his run, scoring 10 of the next 12 for UB, highlighted by a 3-pointer and a neat drive down the lane, finished off by a left-handed layup. The Bulls led 51-46 at the half.

"We had a nice early push, we've been really focusing on that," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "Now we have to get the next stage, work on sustaining that push."

The second half began with the Bulls on fire yet again, going on a 20-8 run to push their lead to 71-54. The Huskies would not go away, scoring the next 11 points and finding themselves within six.

"We played with a lot of grit, perseverance and resilience," said Northern Illinois head coach Rob Judson. "The difference in the game was second chance points."

UB collected a remarkable 15 offensive rebounds, including three off of their own missed foul shots. The Bulls also seemed to grab every loose ball, with Gilbert and Mario Jordan muscling their way to several.

"The MAC is a rugged conference," said Jordan, whose 19 points tied with Huskies guard Mike McKinney for the game-high. "You go into these games knowing it's going to be rough."

"We take pride in getting loose balls," added Battle. "We're a blue-collar team and we play blue-collar ball."

Battle had an exceptional night, with eight assists compared to his one turnover. Those assists moved him ahead of Modie Cox in the Bulls modern-era record books, topping the list at 392.

"What else can you say about Turner Battle," Judson said. "All the coaches in the MAC will appreciate when his four years of eligibility is up."

The loss stings especially hard for the Huskies. Throughout the game, NIU maintained a better field goal percentage, a better free throw percentage and seven blocks compared with the Bulls' two. What the Bulls didn't have, however, was the ability to keep the ball in their possession. UB committed nine steals and hit half of their 16 3-point attempts.

"The turnovers killed us," said Peterson. "It's hard to put the ball in the basket when you don't have it, and it's hard to defend fast-break layups."

As for "Danny Hustle" and company, the Bulls will look to build off of Tuesday night's win with struggling Marshall (3-13, 0-7 MAC) coming into town Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.