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OXFORD, OH ­ The University at Buffalo Bulls trailed by just one point at the half (27-26) but Miami shot a spectacular 65 percent from the field in the second half to down the Bulls, 71-60, in the first-round of the 2002 First Energy MAC Tournament at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio on Monday night.

Miami advances to play the second seeded Ball State Cardinals on Thursday, March 7 (7 p.m.) at Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio while Buffalo ends its season with a 12-18 overall record and a 7-11 mark in MAC play.

Freshman Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth), who earlier in the day became the first Bull ever to be named to the All Freshman Team, scored a game-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting to lead the Bulls. The freshman guard was 4-of-5 from three-point range and grabbed four rebounds before fouling out with :23 left.

Turner Battle

The first half was back-and-forth with Miami taking a four-point lead before senior Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) hit a three-pointer with :19 left to close the gap to one-point.

A three-pointer by Battle to start the second half gave Buffalo a 29-27 lead but the RedHawks responded with a 15-2 run to take control of the game. Doug Davis started the run with a three-pointer and Buffalo went nearly seven minutes with just one basket from the field - a jumper by junior Clement Smith (Brooklyn, NY/Westinghouse). Despite Miami hitting 13 of its first 17 shots of the half, the Bulls pulled within seven points, 65-58, on a jumper by senior Robert Brown (Detroit, MI/Oak Park) with :43 left. The Bulls then managed to get the ball back on a five-second violation by Miami but Campbell was called for a questionable offensive foul and Juby Johnson converted a pair free throws to end Buffalo's hopes. The RedHawks failed to hit a field goal in the final three and a half minutes but they went 12-of-14 from the free throw line during that span to seal the game.

"We turned the ball over to many times and we didn't rebound it well enough to win on the road," said Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon. "They did a good job, give them credit."

Buffalo was outrebounded, 27-20, and lost the turnover battle, 15-13. The Bulls, however, did shoot 53 percent from behind the three-point arc (8-of-15).

The game marked the end of collegiate basketball for five Buffalo seniors: Brown, Kevin Swoffer (Independence, MO/William Chrisman), Darcel Williams (Buffalo, NY/Traditional), Gabe Cagwin (Seattle, WA/North Mason) and Campbell, who had eight points to finish as UB's fifth all-time leading scorer with 1,385 points.

"It came to an end tonight for the seniors. We just didn't have enough. They were able to experience some good things this year, some wins on the road, beating the first-place team (Kent State), the only team in the league to do that. That had some things they can take with them and cherish," said Witherspoon.

UB's 12 overall wins this season were the most since Buffalo joined the MAC and the most since the 1997-98 season when UB posted a 15-13 overall mark in its last year in the Mid-Continent Conference. In addition, Buffalo's seven MAC wins this season were more conference victories than it had in the previous three years when it went just 6-48 in conference play.