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LAIE, HI - It's been four years since the University at Buffalo and Valparaiso culminated their intense rivalry in the Mid-Continent Conference with the Crusaders knocking the Bulls off in the Mid-Continent Conference tournament en route to the NCAA's Sweet 16.

Saturday the two teams met half a world away and with a completely different cast of characters but Valparaiso (9-3) proved it still had Buffalo's number with an 87-80 win in the final game of the Yahoo! Invitational at BYU-Hawaii. It was the Crusaders ninth win in 11 meetings in the all-time series.

This victory came largely through Valpo's work at the foul line as well as solid defense. The Crusaders were 24-of-37 from the line and limited Buffalo - which shot extremely well in a win over Navy and a close loss to Tulsa in its previous tournament games - to 39.1% from the field. Buffalo saw foul problems plague them throughout as leading scorer Darcel Williams (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) was limited to just four points in 21 points while saddled with foul troubles.

The game swung in the final minutes of the first half and the beginning of the second. Buffalo led 33-25 after a layup by game-leading scorer

Robert Brown

Robert Brown (Oak Park, MI/Oak Park) with just 1:06 left in the first half. However, Stalin Ortiz - who came off the bench to score 25 points for Valpo - hit two three-point field goals in the final :45 to close the Bulls' lead to 33-31 at intermission.

After a layup by Williams increased Buffalo's lead to 35-31 early in the second, Valparaiso would go on a 9-1 run to take the lead for good at 40-36 on a bucket by Milo Stovall. After Buffalo trimmed the lead to 40-38 on a pair of free throws by Brown - who had a monster game with a career-best 26 points and 11 rebounds - the Crusaders went on another 9-1 run to lead 49-39 with 13:03 remaining. Valpo would keep the lead in double digits until the final minute when the Bulls narrowed the score to the final margin.

The Bulls had foul problems throughout as three starters Williams, Clement Smith (Brooklyn, NY/Westinghouse) and Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) -spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble. Campbell would respond in the second half with 13 of his 16 points while finishing with six rebounds

Turner Battle

and four assists. Freshman Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth) also had a strong game with a career-best 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists while another freshman, Jason Bird (Ypsilanti, MI/Ypsilanti) had a career-high 10 points. Williams contributed nine rebounds in his 21 minutes of action as the Bulls held a 49-40 edge on the boards, including 21 offensive rebounds.

Buffalo is off until next Saturday when they travel to the Carrier Dome to take on the Syracuse Orangemen for a 1:00 pm tipoff. The game was originally slated for 7 pm but was changed due to Syracuse's football bowl game at that time.