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Jason Bird

BUFFALO, NY - The Buffalo Men's Basketball team closed out the regular season in style on Saturday afternoon with a 70-66 victory over Akron at Alumni Arena. The UB win, coupled with a Northern Illinois loss, means that the Bulls will travel to Northern Illinois to face the Huskies in the first round of the First Energy Mid-American Conference Tournament on Monday night. Tipoff is slated for 7:05 CST.

It may have been "Senior Day" at Alumni Arena, but it was the youngsters who led the way for UB. Sophomore Jason Bird (Ypsilanti, MI/Ypsilanti) capped a great week of basketball with a career-high 20-point performance to lead the Bulls. Freshman B.J. Walker (Cincinnati, OH/Mt. Healthy) added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman Roderick Middleton (University Park, IL/Marian Catholic) also reached double-figures with 10 points.

The game was close for much of the first half as there were six ties and no team held a lead of more than four points. The Bulls (5-22, 2-16), who held a four-point advantage on two different occasions in the first half, could have extended their lead, but shot a dreadful 2-for-10 from the free throw line. As it was, UB went into the locker room holding a 27-25 advantage.

The Zips caught fire and went on a 10-0 scoring run to open the second half. They extended their lead to 43-31 with 14:31 remaining in the game after a technical foul was called on head coach Reggie Witherspoon. However, the technical proved to be the spark the Bulls needed as they mounted a 15-3 scoring run to tie the game with 7:46 left in the contest. The Zips jumped back out to a five-point lead before Bird drained back-to-back three-pointers to give the lead back to the Bulls. Akron guard Derrick Tarver drained two free throws to put the Zips up, 66-65, with 1:04 remaining. But Bird was the word on this night as the sophomore guard drained his fourth three-pointer, with 39 seconds left, to give the Bulls the lead for good. Following an Akron miss, Calvin Cage (Bowie, MD/Bladensburg) calmly hit two free throws to seal it for UB.

Ironically, it was clutch free throw shooting that won the game for the Bulls. After a horrendous effort at the line in the first half, the Bulls went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe in half number two.

Akron (14-13, 9-9) was led by Tarver who scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Andy Hipsher and Darryl Peterson also reached double-figures with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

"It's great to get a win," Witherspoon said. "It's great for our seniors and it's great for the young guys here to be able to play our last home game of the year and get a win. I'm really pleased for them."