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BUFFALO, NY - Senior Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) caught an inbound pass from senior Gabe Cagwin (Seattle, WA/North Mason) with 4.1 seconds left on the clock and sidestepped a Kent State defender before hitting a seven-foot floater inside the foul line with 0.9 seconds left to give the University at Buffalo Bulls (8-6, 3-1 MAC) a 66-65 victory over the Golden Flashes (9-5, 2-1 MAC) at Alumni Arena on Wednesday night. With the win, Buffalo remains unbeaten at home (4-0) this season and has now won more Mid-American Conference games this year than all of last year when they went just 2-16 in the conference.

Louis Campbell

In a close first half, the Bulls went up by as much as seven points and never trailed by more two points. Senior Darcel Williams (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) and junior Clement Smith (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) did most of the work for UB. Williams grabbed 10 first-half rebounds and Smith scored career-high 11 points after just twenty minutes, putting the Bulls up by one-point, 35-34, at the break.

Both teams played tight defense to begin the second half allowing just four points a piece in the first five minutes. Buffalo then appeared to break the game open with a 9-2 run, going up by eight points (52-44) but Kent State quickly responded with a 10-2 run of its own to tie the game at 54-54 with 5:56 remaining. UB regained the lead with a Robert Brown (Detroit, MI/Oak Park) free throw but the Golden Flashes outscored Buffalo, 7-1, over the next 2:07 to take a five-point lead, their largest of the game. A pair of free throws by Williams and Campbell and another by Smith offset by a Kent State layup pulled the Bulls within two points, 61-63. Cagwin then stole the ball on Kent State's next possession and Buffalo used a timeout to draw up a play. Following the timeout, Cagwin inbounded a lob pass to Campbell under the net, who then laid it in to tie the game with 1:53 left. A missed free throw by Kent State and a turnover occurred before Campbell drew a foul with 1:22 left. The senior converted one of his two attempts before Eric Thomas made a layup on the other end to give Kent State a 65-64 lead. After another Buffalo timeout, Cagwin missed a three-pointer and it looked like Buffalo would need to foul the Golden Flashes to get the ball back. However, Buffalo pressured Kent State down the floor and Campbell intercepted a Antonio Gates pass in the paint with :10 remaining to set up the winning basket.

"It's a great win for us," said Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon. "The guys fought hard until the end. They didn't give in, even when we were down. Within the conference it's a statement that we are trying to win. We played teams close before and we thought we let one slip away Saturday. It (the win) keeps us in the hunt. That is what this league is really all about, everybody is in the hunt trying to win the MAC championship and we want to be in the hunt too to win one."

Williams finished with 20 points, shooting 6-of-13 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. In addition, the Eastern Kentucky transfer had the 10th highest single-game rebounding mark in Bulls history, finishing with a career-high 18 boards. Also finishing in double figure scoring for Buffalo was Campbell, who had 18 points, and Smith, who collected a career-high 15 points.

"Most of the coaches knew to look out for UB," said Kent State coach Stan Heath. "They have been in a lot of close games, the word is definitely out. They are athletic, Reggie has them playing really hard."

Kent State committed just six turnovers in the game but three of those mishaps occurred in the final 2:02 of the game. On reverse end, the Bulls recorded a season-low eight turnovers and had just one in the final 15 minutes of the game. The Bulls held Kent State's leading scorer, Trevor Huffman, to nine points, shooting just 3-12 from the field. Antonio Gates finished with a game-high 25 points to lead the Golden Flashes.

Prior to tonight's game, the Bulls were winless in nine meetings against Kent State. Last year, Buffalo lost 58-52 at home and 99-65 on the road.

Buffalo will host Bowling Green (12-1, 2-0 MAC) on Saturday, January 12 (7 p.m.) and Ohio (8-3, 3-0 MAC) on Tuesday, January 15 (7 p.m.) to complete a three-game homestand.