YPSILANTI, MI- The University at Buffalo was poised for its second road win of the season at Eastern Michigan before the Eagles turned the tables on Buffalo, scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns and holding on for a 24-20 Mid-American Conference win at Rynearson Stadium.

The Bulls, who have thrived in the fourth quarter for most of the season, had a final chance for victory but were stopped on downs at the Eastern Michigan 31-yard line with :08 left in regulation. Eastern's big fourth quarter ruined an otherwise strong effort by Buffalo, which dropped its fifth straight.

The Bulls broke open a 10-10 halftime tie with a pair of scoring drives in the third quarter. Sophomore kicker Dallas Pelz (Holland, NY/St. Francis) drilled a 40-yard field goal - the longest of his career - to cap a 12-play, 57-yard drive on Buffalo's first possession of the second half. After stopping the Eagles (2-5) on back-to-back possessions the Bulls went ahead by 10 when quarterback Joe Freedy (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) threw a 44-yard touchdown to junior

Maurice Bradford

Maurice Bradford (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

However, the Eagles got back into the game behind the inspired running of freshman tailback C.R. Roberson and the arm of quarterback Kainoa Akina. Roberson would finish with a game-high 154 yards on 19 carries while Akina completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Chris Archie on a third-and-seven play to cut the Buffalo lead to 20-17.

After a Buffalo drive to the EMU 47 stalled, Roberson accounted for all but 16 yards of an 83-yard drive which he capped with a 16-yard touchdown burst to put EMU ahead for good. Roberson also had a 40-yard gain on that drive and ran for 101 of his yards in the second half.

Buffalo, however, would have two more chances to win. On the succeeding drive, Freedy would lead the Bulls downfield from their own 29 with a 14-yard scramble and a 23-yard hookup to junior Dan Lindsay (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta). However, the UB drive stalled at the EMU 36-yard line and Buffalo opted to punt on 4th-and-8.

After Eastern Michigan was able to gain two first downs, the Bulls forced a punt with just :57 left on the clock. Buffalo picked up a pair of first downs on completions to Matt Knueven (Cincinnati, OH/LaSalle) for 12 yards and to Bradford for 13 to the EMU 31-yard line. However, Freedy, who would finish the game 20-of-45 for 242 yards and two touchdowns, could move UB no further and his fourth down pass to Knueven fell incomplete.

Eastern Michigan started the game strongly, driving 75 yards on 11 plays to open the scoring on a 25-yard field goal by Toller Starnes at the 10:51 mark. UB defensive back

Mike Lambert

Mike Lambert (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-DeWitt), who broke up two passes and recovered a fumble in the game, broke up a pass in the end zone to stop the drive.

The Bulls came back to tie the game late in the first quarter when Pelz drilled a 23-yard field goal to cap a 44-yard drive keyed by a 31-yard pass from Freedy to Bradford. Eastern regained the lead in the second quarter when Akina hit Jamal Stevens for an eight-yard TD pass.

Buffalo would respond immediately on a drive that featured sophomore tailback Marquis Dwarte (Baltimore, MD/Perry Hall). After senior Craig Rohlfs (Cincinnati, OH/Moeller) returned a punt 30 yards, Dwarte took over, accounting for 22 yards rushing on the drive before capping it with a spectacular 11-yard touchdown catch that saw him elude three EMU tacklers and dive into the corner of the end zone.

The Bulls opened the second half strongly as has been the case most of the season. Freedy scrambled for 12 yards on a third-and-10 play to set up Pelz' 40-yard field goal, the fourth straight the sophomore has connected on. The Bulls extended the lead to 10 when Bradford caught a deflection off of Lindsay's hand and raced 44 yards for his second touchdown of the season.

Bradford finished with a career-high 101 yards receiving on four catches. He is the first UB receiver to go over 100 yards this season. Dwarte had 69 yards rushing and 35 yards on three receptions while tight end Chad Bartoszek (Salamanca, NY/Salamanca) had six catches for 30 yards.

The Buffalo defense was paced by the play of senior defensive end

Chris Shelly

Chris Shelly (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler), who had one of the finest games of his career. Shelly had 11 tackles, five of them for losses, including two sacks. The five tackles for loss tied a school record set by Craig Guest versus Lafayette on Sept. 9, 1996.

Strong safety J.J. Gibson (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) and senior linebacker Duane Williams (Detroit, MI/Denby) both matched their career-highs with 12 tackles apiece while Bobby Johnson (Santa Ana, CA/Trabuco Hills) was also in on 12 stops.

BULL-etins: Senior Chris Shelly had a career-high five tackles for loss and a pair of sacks, giving him the team-lead in both categories with 2.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss...the five tackles for loss moved him from 10th all-time in tackles for loss to tied for seventh with Mike Laipple (1983-86) with 28...quarterback Joe Freedy moved into fourth place by himself in career touchdown passes with his two TD tosses on Saturday. The senior now has 29 touchdown passes and is also tied for fourth in touchdowns running and passing combined with 31, tieing him with Frank Rielly and Chad Salisbury...Freedy racked up 280 yards of total offense vs. EMU which moved him into third place in total offense for a career with 4,922 yards. Freedy's 38 yards rushing vs. Eastern was a career high....sophomore Marquis Dwarte scored his fifth touchdown of the season versus EMU on his first-ever receiving touchdown in his career...junior defensive end Jamie Guerra (Belle Vernon, PA/Belle Vernon) posted a sack for the second straight week, bringing his career total to 6.5 sacks...junior punter Scott McMahan (Huntington Beach, CA/Oceanview) had another strong outing at EMU with four kicks downed inside the 20-yard line. That brings his total on the season to 14...sophomore kicker Dallas Pelz has now connected on four straight field goals and is 7-of-12 on the season.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Buffalo Head Coach Jim Hofher

"We had a pretty good third quarter, we were able to get 10 more points on the board than we had at halftime. But to Eastern's credit they did an even better job because they got 14 points on the board in the second half. It was certainly a game that our kids were competing tremendously hard in. We had a lead, had a pretty substantial lead, but needed to get more points there at the end but didn't get them in the fourth quarter."

On Buffalo's last drive

"It becomes much tougher when it goes from first and ten, to second and ten and third and ten - now you've got two downs to try to move the sticks, but every time you do that, though, you have to burn off time. It was just too little, too late."

On Ohio next week and the mood of the team

"Ohio is all we can even deal with. We made it a point to understand that the season is getting very near its end and we need to ask even more and we need to get even more and Ohio is the next team we have to get prepared for."