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Turner Battle

BUFFALO, NY ­ The Buffalo men's basketball team had its three-game winning streak snapped by Eastern Michigan, 77-66, at Alumni Arena on Wednesday night. The Bulls suffered from poor three-point and free throw shooting, going 4-for-19 from beyond the arc and 10-for-24 from the charity stripe.

Early on, the Bulls resembled the team that was riding a three-game winning streak as they quickly jumped out to a 9-2 lead. Buffalo held the lead throughout the first half. However, the Bulls' ineptness at the free throw line prevented them from expanding their lead and putting the game away. UB held a 34-31 halftime advantage.

A jumper by Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth) gave the Bulls a 45-38 lead with 14:10 left in the game. However, from that point on, UB shooters went ice cold. Eastern Michigan capitalized by going on an 18-3 run over the next seven minutes to take an eight-point lead. A three-point play Daniel Gilbert (Detroit, MI/Cass Technical) cut the EMU lead to 58-54 with 6:02 remaining. However, the Eagles answered with an 11-1 run to seal the victory.

Battle led the Bulls (8-10, 4-6) with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. It was the third straight game that the junior point guard has scored at least 20 points. Gilbert tallied 11 points and eight rebounds and Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine) also reached double-figures with 10 points.

Eastern Michigan (8-10, 3-7) was led by Markus Austin who scored 19 points. John Bowler notched a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles.

Eastern Michigan outrebounded Buffalo, 43-40. The Eagles were able to convert 14 offensive rebounds into 12 second chance points.

"I thought our initial defense was pretty good, but other than that we were awful," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We shot too many threes and we missed too many free throws."