MEN'S BASKETBALL

Roster  |  Coaches  |  Schedule / Results  |  News

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo Bulls held off a late charge by Western Michigan, defeating the visiting Broncos 63-60 in front of 974 fans at Alumni Arena. The victory was the second straight for UB, who defeated Akron this past Monday, and it was the third straight win at Alumni Arena.

The Bulls trailed by four points, 30-26, at the half, but came out strong and took the lead from the Broncos at the 13:55 mark on a three-pointer by Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg, Russia). WMU came right back with a three-pointer from Thadus Williams to retake the lead, but UB responded again as Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) hit for two of his team-high 16 points. That bucket by Foster started a 12-0 run for the Bulls, a run that included a key technical foul on the Western Michigan bench for having too many players on the court. Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) capped off the run with a three-pointer as the Bulls led 55-41 with 8:27 to play and appeared to be in control.

The Broncos came charging back, using a 10-0 run to close the lead down to one point, 59-58, with under a minute to play. Tony Barksdale scored three of his game-high 20 points during that run, converting on a three-point play. With the Bulls up by just one, Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) missed a running jumper, but Kerry Hendrickson (Brooklyn, NY/Tilden) grabbed the loose rebound and put it back up for the bucket with just 0:33 remaining. The basket would turn out to be the eventual game-winner. After a layup by WMU's Jon Powell cut the lead back to a one-point game, Foster converted on two free throws to secure the 63-60 win.

The first half was a story of momentum as the Bulls came out of the gate charging and took the early lead. Western Michigan would regain that lead at the 6:10 mark on a layup by Taylor Bro. The Broncos would lead by as many as 10 points, 27-17, with just 2:30 left in the half, before UB closed the half with a 9-3 run, capped off by a buzzer beating jumper by Hendrickson.

Damien Foster led UB (5-14, 3-7) with 16 points, Kerry Hendrickson added 11 points off the bench and Nikolai Alexeev added 10. Mike McKie (Brooklyn, NY/Tilden) narrowly missed his second straight double-double, recording nine points, a game-high 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Western Michigan (7-10, 3-5) was led by Tony Barksdale with a game-high 20 points off the bench and Thadus Williams with 13 points.