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ATHENS, OH - Ohio University simply had too much offense for the University at Buffalo on Monday night in a Mid-American Conference pre-quarterfinal playoff game at The Convo.

The Bobcats shot 58% from the field to offset a strong first-half effort by Buffalo. In the end, however, the Bulls (4-24) just could not match the Bobcats' offensive firepower as Ohio (18-10) put five players in double figures led by sophomore Brandon Hunter, who had 29 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bulls hung with Ohio in the first half despite the Bobcats shooting 58% from the floor, paced by Steve Esterkamp, who had all 18 of his points in the opening stanza. A key play in the game came in the final minute of the first half. Buffalo's Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) stole the ball with Buffalo trailing 45-38. On his way in for a breakaway layup, Campbell was tackled to the floor by Ohio's Shaun McVicker. McVicker was assessed an intentional foul but Buffalos Duane Williams (Detroit, MI/Denby) received a technical foul for taking issue with McVicker's foul.

In the end, Ohio made both free throws while Campbell left the game after landing on his back. Buffalo converted just one of two free throws and turned the ball over with :27 left in the half leading to a jumper by Anthony Jones to give Ohio a 49-39 lead at halftime.

At the end of the game, the Ohio bench walked off the floor and refused to shake Buffalo's players hands.

"We got two shots for our guy getting slammed to the floor and they got two shots because, from what the referee noted, our player was looking at their guy, I don't know, that seems a little unbalanced to me," said Reggie Witherspoon, UB's head coach.

In the second half, Buffalo cut the lead to six points (53-47) with 17:40 remaining before the Bobcats rallied. Ohio went on a 7-0 run, led by five points by Hunter, to take a 60-47 lead and Buffalo never got it within single digits again. The final nail in the coffin came when, trailing 68-54 with 11:42 left after a pair of free throws by Campbell, Buffalo got a steal off their press but missed two close-in shots with the final one blocked by Ohio's Patrick Flomo (who had five rejections in the game), which led to a breakaway layup by Dustin Ford and a 70-54 lead with 11:18 remaining.

"Ohio shot the ball very well and we had perhaps our poorest rebounding game of the year," said Witherspoon. "I felt like the block by Flomo that led to the layup was a big swing in the game. It all starts around the basket and we began to unravel around the hole. Hunter was dominating tonight and they were very, very physical and aggressive."

Campbell led Buffalo with 22 points, four rebounds, five assists and four steals while Jason Robinson (Seattle, WA/Curtis) had 19 points. Robert Brown (Oak Park, MI/Oak Park) and Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) added 11 points each for Buffalo, which lost the rebounding battle, 44-25.

Duane Williams (Detroit, MI/Denby) had a career-best six points and seven rebounds for Buffalo.