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The University at Buffalo men's basketball team defeated the Chicago State Cougars Tuesday night (2/24) in Alumni Arena, 110-100 in the regular season finale for both teams. The Bulls (14-12, 9-7) will now head for Moline, IL for the Mid-Continent Conference quarterfinals on Sunday (3/1), while the Cougars, who are ineligible for the conference tournament, end their season with a 2-25 overall record, 2-14 conference record.

The Bulls dictated play throughout the game, never trailing and leading by as many as 28 points in the second half. UB scorched the nets in the first half, hitting on 63.6% (21-of-33) of their shots, while limiting the Cougars to only 12-of-40 (30%) shooting. With the Bulls leading 20-18 at the 5:08 mark of the first half, senior guard Mike Martinho sank a three-pointer to ignite a 17-2 run which gave UB a 37-20 lead with just over seven minutes left to play before the break. UB continued to pour it on, scoring 55 points in the first 20 minutes of play to take a 55-34 lead into the half. Forward Jason Daniel led the Cougars with 13 first-half points, hitting three-of-four shots from behind the arc.

UB came out firing in the second half, increasing their lead to 28 points on a running jumper by senior Rasaun Young with 15:18 left to play. The Cougars refused to go quietly though, whittling the Bulls' lead down to 10 at 94-84 when sophomore forward Rahsaan Mitchell (22 points) hit a trey with three minutes to play. Chicago State hit two three-pointers down the stretch to make it close, but a layup by freshman forward Maliso Libomi with :19 seconds to go sealed the win. Cougars' sophomore guard Jermaine Hicks led all scorers with 24 points, while junior forward Pierre Shuttlesworth scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Seniors Martinho and Young each led UB with 23 points, and were two of the six Bulls' to score in double figures.

The fifth-seeded Bulls will travel to Moline, IL where they will face either Western Illinois or Youngstown State in the quarterfinals of the 1998 Mid-Continent Conference Tournament on Sunday (3/1) at The Mark of the Quad Cities. The semifinals of the tournament are scheduled for Monday (3/2) while the finals will be played on Tuesday (3/3).

CHICAGO ST (100)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Daniel          25  6-10   2-3   3-5  4  3   18
Hicks           39  8-25   4-4   2-5 12  3   24
Watts           23   0-2   0-0   0-4  1  4    0
Mitchell        26  8-18   2-2   1-2  1  4   22
Shuttlesworth   35  5-15   2-5  8-14  1  2   12
Carlotta        19   1-4   1-3   3-7  1  5    3
Normand          9   1-3   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
Kunde           20  7-10   2-2   3-4  0  4   19
Demo Payton      3   0-1   0-0   0-2  0  2    0
Ross             1   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 36-88 13-19 21-44 20 28  100
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Percentages: FG-.409, FT-.684. 3-Point Goals:
15-29, .517 (Daniel 4-5, Hicks 4-9, Mitchell 4-9,
Carlotta 0-1, Kunde 3-5). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 6 (Carlotta 5, Shuttlesworth).
Turnovers: 12 (Watts 3, Daniel 2, Kunde 2,
Mitchell 2, Carlotta, Hicks, Shuttlesworth).
Steals: 6 (Shuttlesworth 3, Carlotta, Daniel,
Mitchell).

BUFFALO (110)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Martinho        29  8-16   3-4   2-5  6  4   23
Clemens         27  4-11   3-4   3-6  6  2   11
Alexeev         17   4-7   2-2   2-4  0  3   11
Harris          20   4-6   2-5   2-6  1  2   10
Young           24  9-12   5-6   1-5  4  2   23
Alkhas          13   0-4   1-2   4-6  2  0    1
Kleidon         16   2-3   3-6   0-4  5  0    8
Peterson        22   1-3   1-3   1-5  5  1    3
Mcmillen        23   6-9   0-0   1-5  2  1   14
Libomi           6   2-3   0-2   0-4  0  2    4
Gustafsson       3   0-0   2-2   0-0  0  1    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 40-74 22-36 16-50 31 18  110
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.541, FT-.611. 3-Point Goals:
8-18, .444 (Martinho 4-8, Clemens 0-1, Alexeev
1-1, Kleidon 1-1, Peterson 0-2, Mcmillen 2-5).
Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 3 (Alexeev,
Harris, Alkhas). Turnovers: 12 (Mcmillen 3,
Libomi 2, Martinho 2, Alkhas, Gustafsson,
Kleidon, Peterson, Young). Steals: 8 (Martinho 3,
Clemens 2, Young 2, Harris).
__________________________________
Chicago St         34   66  -  100
Buffalo            55   55  -  110
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Technical fouls: Buffalo 1 (Kleidon).  A: 1,453.
Officials: Fran Connolly, Ben Bluman, Tom
Grzywinski.