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BUFFALO, NY - The UB men's basketball team won their exhibition opener against Marathon Oil 102-98 as four Bulls scored in double figures.

Tied at 50-50 at halftime, UB fell behind by as many as nine points, 74-65, with 12 minutes remaining in the game before charging back. The Bulls used a 15-3 run over the next five minutes. A three-pointer from Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) gave the Bulls the lead for good at the 7:33 mark to cap off that run. Marathon Oil cut the lead back down to one, 82-81, with 6:21 left, but consecutive three-pointers from Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) and Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg, Russia), extended the UB lead again. Late three pointers by Marathon Oil closed the margin but the Bulls hit some late free throws and Davis Lawrence (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) hit a free throw with 0:03 left to seal the win.

The first half saw a back and forth battle early before a few runs by UB increased the lead. Rick Fox (Toledo, OH/St. Francis DeSales) came off the bench and hit three three-pointers in a two-minute span to give UB a ten point lead with nine minutes left in the half. Marathon Oil would cut into that lead and eventually tie the game going into halftime at 50-50 on a jumper by Jeffrey Clifton with three seconds left.

The Bulls were led by four players in double figures. Newcomer Damien Foster and Nikolai Alexeev each had 20 points for UB and Alexei Vasiliev had 19 points. Mike McKie (Brooklyn, NY/Tilden) added 17 points off the bench on 8-of-11 shooting and had a game-high nine rebounds. Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) had a game-high seven assists and Vasiliev added six assists.

UB shot 45% (37-for-81) from the field and hit 13-of-26 (.500) from three- point range. The Bulls also won the battle on the boards, out rebounding Marathon Oil 51-41.

UB will be in action again on Friday, Nov. 12, in an exhibition game against the Ohio All-Stars at 11 a.m.