Buffalo Drops Overtime Decision at Northern Illinois, 84-82

Bulls have nine-game winning streak snapped by Huskies

Calvin Cage

DeKALB, IL - The University at Buffalo men's basketball team had its nine-game winning streak snapped by Northern Illinois, falling to the Huskies in overtime, 84-82, at the Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon.

Buffalo (11-2, 1-1 MAC) was led by Calvin Cage (Capitol Heights, MD/Baldensburg) who scored a career-high 26 points in the game, including a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

The Bulls jumped out to a 22-12 lead before the Huskies rattled off 15 straight points to take a 27-22 advantage. The five-point lead matched the largest that either team would hold the rest of the way. The game was tied, 40-40, at halftime.

The second half was a see-saw battle with each team taking brief leads. With the game tied at 70, Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine) grabbed an offensive rebound, scored and was fouled. His free throw gave the Bulls a 73-70 lead with 1:35 remaining. A pair of Corey Sims free throws cut the UB advantage to 73-72 on the Huskies' next possession. Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Bulls a two-point edge with 34 seconds left. But Sims struck again with 12 seconds remaining as he hit a shot in the lane to tie the contest and force overtime.

Northern Illinois grabbed a five-point advantage with 2:05 left in the extra session. Cage answered with a lay-up and following a Northern Illinois free throw, Greg Gamble (Niagara Falls, NY/Niagara Falls) hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 84-82 with 16 seconds left. Following a Huskie turnover, the Bulls had one last chance, but a three-point attempt by Eric Moore (Morristown, NJ/St. Benedict's) was partially blocked, allowing the Huskies to pull out the victory.

Along with Cage, Idbihi and Jordan also reached double-figures in the scoring column adding 16 and 11 points, respectively. Roderick Middleton (University Park, IL/Marian Catholic) and Parnell Smith (Indianapolis, IN/Pike), who played only 18 minutes before leaving the game with an injury, each added nine points. Gamble had eight points and six rebounds for the Bulls. Jordan led UB with seven rebounds.

Buffalo had a season-low nine turnovers in the game, but shot a season-worst 35.4 percent (23-for-65) from the field. UB shot 30-for-36 from the free throw line. The 30 made free throws were the ninth highest single game total in school history.

Northern Illinois (7-4, 2-1 MAC) was led by Ryan Paradise who scored 22 points and Ben Rand who added 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Huskies outrebounded the Bulls, 37-36.

“We got greedy on offense and burned a lot of energy on offense,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “Unfortunately, we didn't burn any energy on defense.”

Buffalo will play at Toledo on Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm.

01/07/2006