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HUNTINGTON, WV - The University at Buffalo men's basketball team saw their season come to an end as the Bulls lost at Marshall, 83-66, in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. UB, taking part in their first ever MAC Tournament game, was the 12th seed in the tournament and Marshall was the fifth seed, earning the right to host the first round game.

After two losses to the Herd early this year by 32 and 16 points, the Bulls came out and fought hard, giving Marshall all they could handle early on. The lead went back and forth in the early going. Trailing 8-5 three minutes into the game, the Bulls went on a 6-0 run, getting three straight layups, two by Clement Smith (Brooklyn, NY/Westinghouse), to give UB an 11-8 lead. Marshall would tie the game before Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) hit a three-pointer, one of three treys for him in the first half, to give UB the lead back. Michael Sinclair (Buffalo, NY/Williamsville) came off the bench and scored six-straight UB points to keep the Bulls in the game and an Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg, Russia) three-pointer gave UB a three-point lead, 23-20, with 11:14 to play in the half. Marshall would come back and retake the lead, but Buffalo stayed close and used more three-pointers from Foster and Vasiliev to lead 34-31 with 4:29 to go in the first half. The Thundering Herd would then go on a 7-0 run to lead 38-34 in the closing minutes before Sinclair would hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, making it a 38-37 game at halftime.

The second half was a story of runs by both teams. Marshall came out of the lockerroom with some intense defensive pressure and went on a 9-0 run to open the half and lead 47-37. Trailing 56-43 with 13:20 to play, the Bulls would use a 9-0 run of their own to close the gap to just four points, 56-52, with 10:06 remaining. Marshall would answer with an 8-0 run to push their lead back to 12, 64-52, and the Bulls could not get the game close again, but never gave up their fight. With two minutes to play and trailing by 22 points, 78-56, UB would go on a 10-0 run to close the gap, but ran out of time as Marshall came away with an 83-66 win, advancing to the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament to face Central Michigan, an upset winner at Akron.

The Bulls, who finish their season at 5-23, were led by Michael Sinclair with a career-high 13 points, and Damien Foster netted 13 and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds as well for UB. Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Bulls. J.R. VanHoose had a huge game for the Herd (20-8), scoring 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field, and pulled down 10 rebounds. Cornelius Jackson added 11 points and 10 assists.