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Daniel Gilbert

Buffalo (19-8, 11-7 MAC) jumped out to a 9-3 lead and held the lead for the first 8:46 of the first half. Cedrick Middleton, the younger brother of Roderick Middleton (University Park, IL/Marian Catholic), drained the first of his three-pointers to give Akron its first lead of the game, 14-12. Roderick one-upped his brother by hitting back-to-back three-pointers to put the Bulls back up, 18-14, with 9:57 left in the half. Akron battled back to take a 27-22 lead with 3:38 left in the half. The Zips held a 29-28 advantage at the break.

With the game tied at 35, the Bulls went on a 14-4 run to take a 51-39 lead with 12:02 left in the game. The key to the scoring run was the outside shooting of Middleton. The junior guard nailed three-straight treys to tie a career-high with five in the game. Akron cut the lead to 53-47 with 8:33 remaining. But that would be as close as the Zips would get as the Bulls mounted a 10-2 scoring run to take a 63-49 lead with 6:01 left in the game. The Bulls held Akron to only seven points in the final six minutes en route to the 16-point victory.

Daniel Gilbert (Detroit, MI/Cass Technical) led the Bulls with 17 points and nine rebounds - both season highs. Middleton added 15 points. Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth) tied a career high with nine assists to go along with 13 points and three steals. Battle's final assist was a behind-the-back pass to a trailing Gilbert who laid it in for two.

Buffalo attacked the glass and pulled down a season-high 55 rebounds. Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhof) and Mario Jordan (Cleveland, OH/Benedictine) both reached double-figures in rebounds with 10 apiece.

Akron (18-9, 11-7 MAC) struggled from the field all night shooting just 26.9 percent from the floor. The Zips were led by Middleton who scored a career-high 17 points. Darryl Peterson added 13 points.

It was the Bulls' 19th win of the year - tying the school record for wins in a season.

"I'm glad our guys responded in the second half," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "I thought that if we continued to rebound the ball and stop turning it over that we would have a really good chance of winning. Thankfully, we pressured them enough and they began to turn the ball over in the second half."

UB will host Northern Illinois in the opening round of the First Energy Mid-American Conference Tournament on Monday night at Alumni Arena. It is the third straight year that the Bulls will face the Huskies in the first round of the MAC Tournament. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm and will be broadcast on ESPNU.