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Calvin Cage

OXFORD, OH ­ Another impressive shooting performance enabled Buffalo to soundly defeat Miami, 87-73, in Oxford, OH on Saturday afternoon. It was UB's fifth straight victory and first-ever win at Miami's Millett Hall.

For the second straight game, Calvin Cage (Capital Heights, MD/Bladensburg) came up huge for UB. Fresh off an 18-point outburst in the Bulls' win over Kent State on Wednesday night, the sophomore guard notched 22 points, including four three-pointers against the RedHawks. Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth) finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Miami led briefly at the start of the game, 3-0. However, a steal and a layup by Battle gave the Bulls a 4-3 lead and Buffalo never trailed again. Up 8-7, with 14:55 remaining in the first half, the Bulls' rattled off a 17-4 run that gave them a 25-11 lead with 5:39 left in the half. The Bulls drained five three-pointers in the final 4:37 of the half, including three by Battle and the first of the season by Mark Bortz (Commerce Township, MI/Walled Lake Central), to take a 46-28 lead at the break.

A jumper by Roderick Middleton (University Park, IL/Marian Catholic) extended the UB lead to 53-32 early in the second half. Miami fought back and, with the aid of a 20-5 scoring run, cut the Bulls' lead to 58-52 with 10:49 remaining. However, a layup and a three-pointer by Cage quickly put the Bulls back up by 11 points. The RedHawks continued to hang around until freshman Brian Andre (Bingham, ME/Valley) hit a layup and was fouled. Andre's free throw put the Bulls up 76-60 with 5:46 left in the game. Miami wouldn't threaten again and the Bulls' held on for the victory.

Heading into Saturday's contest, Miami was allowing a conference-low 62 points per game. The 87 points scored by the Bulls were not only a season high on the road for UB, but the most points an opponent has scored against Miami since Jan. 5, 2002.

Turner Battle

The Bulls (14-11, 9-7) shot 56.9 percent from the floor, including 11-for-19 from beyond the arc. Buffalo had a season-low nine turnovers in the game.

Along with Cage and Battle, Bortz and Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) also reached double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Juby Johnson scored a game-high 27 points to lead Miami (15-10, 10-6). Danny Horace added 15 points and six rebounds for the Redhawks.

"Anytime you can come in here and get a win, it's big," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "I think our guys feel a little more empowered right now than they have felt in the past. That has enabled us to play like a confident team and continue to play hard and keep scrapping and keep fighting."

With the win, the Bulls have secured a home playoff game for the first time since joining the Mid-American Conference in 1998.