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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo men's basketball team snapped an eight-game losing streak in defeating Central Michigan University 71-58 Wednesday night, recording the team's first win for head coach Reggie Witherspoon, named interim head coach on Dec. 4.

The Bulls led by one at halftime, but the Chippewas came back to regain the lead five minutes into the second half. CMU led 42-40 with 14:45 to play before UB fought back. The Bulls took the lead back on a layup by Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) and the Chippewas took it back on a jumper by Luke Johnson with 10:35 to play. UB then used a 7-1 run to establish a lead. A three-pointer by Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) gave the Bulls a 46-44 lead with 10:16 left, a lead UB would not give up the rest of the game.

UB pushed the lead up to as many as nine, 60-51 on a three-pointer by Brian Keenan (Kenmore, NY/Canisius) with five minute left. Central Michigan charged back, cutting the Bulls lead to just three points, 61-58, with 3:41 to play. Two Louis Campbell free throws pushed the led to five with three minutes left, then Campbell made a steal and drove down for a dunk to extend the Bulls lead to seven points, 65-58. A three-pointer by Kerry Hendrickson (Brooklyn, NY/Tilden) with 1:34 to go gave the Bulls a ten point lead and put the game out of reach for the Chippewas and UB held on for the 71-58 victory.

The first half saw both teams fight for the lead before UB eventually pulled away. CMU led 8-6 with 16:54 to play when the Bulls went on a 12-0 run to take a ten point lead with 13:16 to go in the half. Central Michigan fought back and closed the first half with a 6-0 run, cutting the UB lead to just one point, 33-32, by halftime.

Louis Campbell led the way for UB (3-11, 1-4), recording 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals in the win. Kerry Hendrickson recorded his first double-double with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Jon Kleidon (Oak Park, IL/River Forest) scored four points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds, and took a crucial charging call late in the game to help lead the Bulls to victory. David Webber led all scorers with 21 points for Central Michigan (3-10, 0-4) and Tim Kisner had 20 points.