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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo men's basketball team dropped their final regular season game, falling 67-58 to Miami in front of 2,128 fans at Alumni Arena.

The Bulls had a great first half, taking control of the game early and jumping out to a big lead. Trailing 4-2 after the first five minutes, the Bulls put together a 23-1 run, dominating the game over that eight minute stretch. Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg, Russia) led the Bulls charge over that time, scoring all 11 of his points during the run, including three three-pointers. UB led by 20 points, 25-5 at that point, but Miami maintained their composure and came back with an 11-2 run of their own. UB went over four minutes without a field goal during that stretch as the UB lead was cut to 11 points. Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) responded with a three-pointer, and Mike McKie (Brooklyn, NY/Tilden) slammed home an offensive rebound to push the lead back up to 16 points, 32-16, with 5:16 to play in the half. Miami would end the half on a 9-4 run and UB went into halftime with a 36-26 lead.

Miami came out strong in the second half, slowly eating away at the Bulls lead. Jon Kleidon (Oak Park, IL/River Forest) was the Bulls only scorer early, hitting for five of his career-high 12 points in the first five minutes of the half. The RedHawks would then use a 10-0 run over a four minute span to retake the lead. Rich Allendorf hit an inside jumper with 11:06 to play to give Miami the lead, 44-43, their first lead since early in the first half. The RedHawks would extend the lead before UB cut it back down to one on two occasions, the last was on a pair of free throws by Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) with 4:30 to play, making it a 52-51 game. From that point, Miami would slowly build the lead to as many as 11 points late in the game when the Bulls were forced to foul.

UB (5-22, 3-16) was led by Alexeev with 14 points and seven rebounds. Jon Kleidon had a career high 12 points and six boards and three assists. Miami (12-14, 8-10) was led by Jason Grunkemeyer with a career high 26 points and Jason Stewart with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

This was the final home game for seniors Michael Sinclair (Williamsville, NY), Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg Russia), Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) and Jon Kleidon (Oak Park, IL). All four seniors were recognized in a pre-game ceremony for their contributions to the UB basketball program. The Bulls will next take part in their first ever Mid-American Conference postseason tournament. The Bulls qualified as the 12th seed and will travel to play at Marshall on Wednesday, March 1.