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BUFFALO, NY - The Bulls gave the crowd of 3,336 at Alumni Arena a show, taking Niagara Unviersity to double overtime before the Purple Eagles pulled out a thrilling 105-103 win.

The Bulls kept coming back the whole game, but late free throws by Niagara's Daryl Green sealed the victory for the Purple Eagles. UB trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, 74-62, with 6:25 remaining before staging their first comeback. UB used an 8-0 run to close the gap as a three-pointer by Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) made it a four point game, 74-70, with 4:35 left in regulation. Niagara pushed the lead back to eight points, 78-70, but the Bulls charged back with a 9-0 run to go ahead, 79-78. Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg, Russia) drove the length of the court and hit a running layup with 0:47 left to give UB their first lead since the one minute mark in the first half. The Purple Eagles responded as Demond Stewart then converted on a three-point play, scoring three of his game-high 37 points to put Niagara back on top, 81-79 with 0:22 left. The Bulls came down and Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) fed the ball in the post to Nikolai Alexeev (Minsk, Belarus) who converted on a layup to send the game to overtime.

In the first extra period, Niagara appeared to have the game won when Daryl Greene hit two free throws to go ahead 92-88 with just 0:11 to go. Louis Campbell then came down and hit a jumper in the lane to cut the lead to two, and the Bulls were given a second chance when Nate Bernosky threw away the inbounds pass. Campbell then hit a floating baseline jumper at the buzzer to tie the game at 92-92 and send it to a second overtime.

The Bulls never led in the second overtime, but never gave up the fight. Daryl Greene hit a layup with 1:56 left to put Niagara ahead by five points, 100-95. Rick Fox (Toledo, OH/St. Francis DeSales) then hit his fifth three-pointer of the game to make it 100-98 with less than a minute remaining. The teams exchanged a pair of free throws before Greene hit two pressure free throws with 0:09 left, and gave Niagara a 104-100 lead. Davis Lawrence (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) then hit his first collegiate field goal, a three-pointer from a foot beyond the arc to make it a one point game, 104-103, with three seconds left. Greene then hit one of two free throws, making it a 105-103 game but UB could not hit the desperation shot from beyond halfcourt and the Purple Eagles left with a two-point win.

Nikolai Alexeev led the Bulls with a career-high 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor and 10-of-17 from the free throw line. Rick Fox added a career-best 23 points, scoing most of his from long range. Fox was 5-of-7 from three-point range, helping UB hit 11 three-pointers as a team. Alexei Vasiliev added 21 points and a career-high 10 assists and eight rebounds. Damien Foster and Louis Campbell each added 11 points as all five starters for the Bulls hit double figures.

Niagara was led by Demond Stewart with a game-high 37 points and 11 rebounds and Daryl Greene added 31 points. The Bulls (0-1) will host Cornell on Sunday night at 7 p.m. at Alumni Arena.