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MT. PLEASANT, MI - The UB men's basketball team got off to a slow start and had a strong finish against Central Michigan , but it was not enough to overcome the Chippewas as Buffalo failed in its attempt at the first MAC win of the season, falling 86-77.

The Bulls got off to a slow start in the early going. Central Michigan used a 14-2 run early in the first half to take a 13-point lead, 20-7, with 8:40 left in the half. UB then went on a 9-2 run, capped off by a steal and a dunk from Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) and a Karl Rainey (Buffalo, NY/Riverside) jumper to close the gap to three points, 25-22, with three minutes left in the half. The Chippewas closed the half on a 5-0 run, including a three-pointer at the buzzer by Luke Johnson to take a 32-24 halftime lead.

In the second half, UB slowly climbed back into the game and got a layup from Robert Brown (Oak Park, MI/Oak Park) and a three-pointer from Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) to close the gap to four points, 42-38, with 13:34 left in the game. CMU responded with a 10-0 run, with six of those points coming from David Webber, giving the Chippewas a 52-38 lead with 11:17 to play. The Bulls would charge back again and scored the next seven points to cut into the CMU lead. Central Michigan would push the cushion back up to 13 points with 7:38 to play and hoped to end the Bulls comeback attempts.

Buffalo fought back and would cut it to a ten-point lead with seven minutes to play and apply the full court press. CMU struggled against the pressure and the Bulls utilized a 10-2 run to cut the lead down to just two points. That run was capped off by a three-pointer from Davis Lawrence (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) to make it a 65-63 game with 5:29 to play. The Bulls press created a steal in the backcourt, but the potential game-tieing layup attempt was waved off because of offensive goaltending. CMU used that spark to go on a 7-0 run and push its lead back up to nine points. The Bulls then got a layup from Brown and a three-pointer from Gabe Cagwin (Belfair, WA/North Mason) to cut the lead back to four points, 72-68, with two minutes remaining. UB got to within four points on three more occasions but could get no closer as CMU held on for the 86-77 win.

"We like to pressure a lot, but our biggest problem in executing that is our depth," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We have to pick our spots when to use it and can't pressure too soon or we run out of gas at the end, but it was working for us tonight."

Central Michigan's David Webber led all scorers with 27 points, including 10-of-10 from the free throw line, and he surpassed the 1,000 career-point mark in the game as well. Robert Brown and Louis Campbell each had 18 points to lead UB and Damien Foster added 17 points. Brown had a game-high seven rebounds and Campbell had six assists on the night.

Buffalo falls to 2-10 overall on the season and 0-5 in the Mid-American Conference. The Bulls will next host Kent State in MAC action on Wednesday, January 17 at 7pm in UB's Alumni Arena.