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BUFFALO, NY - The Bulls men's basketball team dropped their first MAC contest of the season, losing 83-52 to the Northern Illinois Huskies.

UB (2-7, 0-1) was in the game much of the first half, although they trailed for all but 1:18 of the half. NIU got the first bucket, a three-pointer by Rey Jones, and jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game. UB trailed 9-3 before a 7-0 run gave the Bulls their first lead of the game, 10-9, on a free throw by Damien Foster (Buffalo, NY/Traditional). A three-pointer by Alexei Vasiliev (St. Petersburg, Russia) at the 9:55 mark gave UB a 13-12 lead. The Huskies would respond on a layup by All-MAC player T.J. Lux, giving NIU a 14-13 lead and a lead they would hold the rest of the game. UB cut the lead to one point, 24-23, on a layup by Jon Kleidon (Oak Park, IL/River Forest) with 2:49 left, but NIU went to the lockerroom with a two-point lead, 30-28.

The second half was all Huskies, who improved to 6-2 on the season and 1-1 in MAC play. NIU opened the half with a 16-4 run to take control of the game. The story of the second half was the team shooting on both ends. Northern Illinois caught fire, hitting 20-of-35 (.571) shots in the second half, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. On the other end of the court, the Bulls struggled, shooting just 5-of-28 (.179) from the field and 1-of-11 from three-point range. UB would connect on their last field goal of the game at the 9:01 mark, finishing the last nine minutes scoring their last 11 points on free throws.

Rick Fox (Toledo, OH/St. Francis DeSales) led the Bulls with 11 points off the bench and was the only UB player in double figures. Mike McKie (Brooklyn, NY/Tilden) pulled down 10 rebounds, his second straight double-digit rebound effort. T.J. Lux led the Huskies with 23 points and 12 rebounds, both game highs. Mike Brown added 15 points and Marcus Jankus added 11 points off the bench.