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Bulls Breakthrough at Northern Illinois, 89-81

Andy Robinson

Robinson’s eight three-pointers tied for the third-best single-game performance in UB school history with Mike Martinho who made eight trifectas on December 5, 1995 and February 12, 1996.

Max Boudreau

Buffalo struggled out of the gate, going behind 6-0 before Robinson finally got UB on the scoreboard with a layup 2:51 into the first half. Following a Northern Illinois dunk, the Bulls scored the next 15 straight points and never looked back. Robinson scored nine of those 15 on a trio of three-pointers and Max Boudreau (Montreal, Quebec/Champlain St. Lambert) added four during the run, on his way to a career-high 14 points.

UB led 25-16 with 8:07 remaining in the first half when an 8-0 run, again sparked by a pair of Robinson three pointers, pushed Buffalo’s advantage to 17 points, the largest lead UB enjoyed in the first half. Northern Illinois cut the UB advantage to 11 at the half, 46-35.

The Bulls would push the advantage to as high as 25 on two separate occasions in the second half. The first came on a pair of Byron Mulkey (Wheatfield, NY/Niagara-Wheatfield) free throws with 7:50 remaining that made the UB advantage 79-54. The second came on a three-pointer by Sean Smiley (Erie, PA/McDowell) with 6:33 to play that gave the Bulls an 82-57 lead. Mulkey and Smiley each finished with 10 points.

Following Smiley’s three, Northern Illinois finished the game on a 24-7 run, but the Buffalo lead was never smaller than eight points.

Calvin Betts

Calvin Betts (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) scored 11 points to give the Bulls five double-figure scorers. Betts also led UB in rebounding for the tenth-straight game, pulling down seven boards for the blue and white.

Northern Illinois was led by Jarvis Nichols who scored 22 points off the bench for the Huskies.

“I think that both teams played hard and played with great energy,” said Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon. “We’re glad to come out and get a victory here. It was a hard-fought game and I’m proud of our guys.”

Buffalo will return home on Sunday, February 10 when the Bulls begin a five-game homestand against the Eagles of Eastern Michigan in Alumni Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.