BUFFALO, NY ­ Buffalo could not have picked a better time to play its best game of the season. The Bulls shot 50 percent from the field and five players scored in double figures as Buffalo defeated Marshall, 87-62, in front of 2,751 fans at Alumni Arena on Saturday night.

Turner Battle

The victory was UB's seventh Mid-American Conference win of the season (12-15 overall, 7-9 MAC) and gave them a season-sweep over Marshall (12-14, 6-10), its first series sweep since joining the MAC in 1998. The Bulls are now tied with Northern Illinois for eighth place in the conference standings and have two games remaining on the regular season slate, a road game at Miami (Feb. 25) and a road game at Bowling Green (Feb. 27). A top eight spot in the conference would enable UB to host a first-round MAC Tournament game on March 4.

UB broke open a 14-11 game in the first half with an incredible 22-0 run which began with a three-pointer by freshman Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth). The Bulls then wore the Thundering Herd out the rest of the half, winning the battle on the boards, 23-9, and scoring 20 points in the paint behind 17-of-27 shooting from the field and a near perfect 11-of-12 from the line.

Buffalo increased its lead to 35 points on a dunk by senior Robert Brown (Detroit, MI/Oak Park) early in the second-half and held a 32-point lead with 11:42 left when Battle hit a jumper following four offensive rebounds during the same possession, dimming Marshall's hopes of a comeback. The Thundering Herd managed to cut the deficit to 25 points before buzzer on some long-range shooting by Tamar Slay, who was 6-of-10 from three-point range and finished with a game-high 28 points.

Buffalo's leading scorer this season, senior Darcel Williams (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) had 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and Battle just missed a triple-double with a career-high 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Senior Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) had 10 points and six assists, junior Clement Smith (Brooklyn, New Utretch) collected 10 points and freshman Daniel Gilbert (Detroit, MI/Cass Technical) added 10 points.

"We need to come out and play as hard as we can for the remaining minutes of the regular season," said Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon speaking of the UB's chances of hosting a MAC Tournament game. "Tonight we thought we could get the ball into the paint. Our guys did a great job anticipating the next pass. We had at lot of nice passes that got us to what looked to be easy baskets."

Buffalo's five seniors, Brown, Gabe Cagwin (Seattle, WA/North Mason), Campbell, Kevin Swoffer (Independence, MO/Williams Chrisman), and Williams played in their final regular season home game of their career tonight. Swoffer earned his fourth consecutive start and scored seven points. Cagwin, who has missed the past five games with an leg injury, was on the court for the final :18.