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BUFFALO, NY ­ Seven weeks ago, Buffalo squandered a 14-point second-half lead to Ohio and fell to 1-4 within the Mid-American Conference. What a difference a few weeks makes.

The Bulls (14-11, 9-7 MAC) have since locked up a home game for Monday's first round of the MAC Tournament, having won five straight and nine of their last 11 games.

An energetic crowd is once again expected at Alumni Arena for Wednesday's 7 pm tip off against the Ohio Bobcats. Last week, the UB faithful watched an 82-66 home victory over Kent State before the Bulls kept the momentum rolling with an 87-73 road win against the Miami RedHawks on Saturday.

Calvin Cage

Sophomore guard Calvin Cage (Capital Heights, MD/Bladensburg) averaged 20 points in those two contests ­ including a combined 8-for-14 shooting display from behind the three-point arc. Those performances earned him MAC East Division Player of the Week honors.

After posting 80-plus points in consecutive contests, UB's scoring average now ranks fourth in the conference at 74.2 points per game.

Ohio (9-18, 6-10 MAC) enters Wednesday's game on a four-game losing streak, most recently dropping a 71-68 game to Marshall on Saturday. One of their bright spots in that loss though was freshman forward Sonny Troutman, who poured in a career-high 28 points.

On the season, Troutman is averaging 9.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per contest. Along with UB center Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) ­ who averages 10.0 points and 5.7 boards per game ­ Troutman will be vying for MAC Freshman of the Year honors.

The Bobcats' leading scorer is senior forward Jaivon Harris, who comes off the bench averaging 15.6 points per game. He leads the MAC with 81 made three-pointers this season.

The all-time series lies in Ohio's favor with the Bobcats having taken 13 of the 14 all-time meetings between the two schools. Buffalo's lone win over Ohio came during the 1929-30 season.