One for the road

It's been said that the hottest team, not the best team, is the best bet to win in a single-elimination tournament. With the first place team in the MAC East, the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks losing on Wednesday to Akron, the Bulls had a chance to prove that they may be the hottest team in the Mid-American Conference.

UB (18-7 overall, 10-6 MAC) won its fifth straight game Wednesday night, as the Bulls defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd (5-19 overall, 2-13 MAC) on the road, 68-55.

Leading the way for UB was Turner Battle, who finished the game with 21 points, three assists and five rebounds. Battle shot a smooth 80 percent from the field. Also hitting the double-digit mark in scoring for the Bulls were Roderick Middleton, who scored 14 points and Mark Bortz, who chipped in with 12.

UB used solid defensive execution to contain Marshall's streaky offense, ultimately getting the job done on the boards in order to win the low scoring contest. The Bulls out-rebounded the Herd by a 41-29 margin.

Buffalo was also able to hit its free throws, going 9-for-12 from the line while limiting total turnovers to just 16 on the game. More importantly, however, the Bulls were able to limit Marshall's 3-point shooting ability, as the Herd hit just three of its 15 3-point attempts.

"They shot some 3-point shots that they would have made, but the ones they made were defended," said Bulls' head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "They didn't seem to be comfortable with their stroke."

Last time the Bulls faced this same Marshall squad, the UB allowed the Herd's A.W. Hamilton and Ronny Dawn to hit three treys each. This time around, the entire Marshall team was only able to connect on three shots from the land of plenty.

Although the Bulls led throughout the entire contest, the game was never a blowout. With just over ten minutes remaining in the game, the Bulls' lead was cut to five points.

But just after Marshall got close, the Bulls needed only two possessions to more than double their lead.

"Thankfully Roderick Middleton got hot there and knocked down some threes. He knocked down half of our threes," said Witherspoon.

After a steal by Mario Jordan, Middleton hit the first of back-to-back threes to stretch the Bulls' lead from five points to 11, and the game never got that close again.

Middleton had the hot hand for the Bulls in the second half, as he scored all of his points in the second stanza.

Marshall was led in scoring by Hamilton who had 12 points, followed by Trey Whitted and Mark Patton, who each threw in 11.

The Bulls last home game was on Feb. 15, against Kent State. Since then the Bulls have traveled over 6,340 miles over the course of four days for two games.

"This has been a tough stretch. We're going to give them a day off tomorrow," said Witherspoon.

Luckily for the Bulls, they get a week off, their next game being next Wednesday. Although the game is on the road, the Bulls will have had more than enough time to rest, and readjust to life in Western New York.

"We really need (the rest), and of course it feels better doing it after a couple wins," said Witherspoon.

Following Wednesday's victory, the Bulls have tied their modern era wins record at 18. The Bulls have not won this many games since the 1994-1995 season. Additionally, the Bulls have won 19 games once, in the 1954-1955 season, but have yet to capture a 20-win season. UB would have to post wins in its final two games to achieve that feat.

"It's good, especially in a conference like the one we're in because there just aren't any easy ones so it's good that we've been able to get 18," said Witherspoon.

But the Bulls' head coach isn't looking that far into the crystal ball just yet.

"We really have to zero in on what's ahead of us," said Witherspoon.

The Bulls have just two teams ahead of them as the regular season nears its end and the playoff positioning begins. In the MAC, the East and West division winners, along with the team that has the next best record all get byes in the first round of the tournament, along with a free pass to Cleveland.

Currently, the Bulls find themselves behind Akron and Miami (Ohio) in the MAC East division, with the upper portion of the MAC West a tight contest between Bowling Green and Western Michigan.