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BUFFALO, NY - Sophomore Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) scored a game-high 17 points and added eight rebounds to lead the University at Buffalo to a 57-47 win over Northern Illinois, earning their first Mid-American Conference victory in the process.

The Bulls held Northern Illinois to 34% shooting in the game and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds in the second half to score their first MAC win in their first season in the league. The win snapped a 16-game losing streak for the Bulls, dating back to a win over Hawaii-Hilo on Dec. 29. The point total was the fewest UB has given up since an 80-47 win over Chicago State to close the 1996-97 season.

Campbell added a career-high matching eight rebounds and hit four three- pointers to spark the Bulls' offense. Meanwhile, junior Jon Kleidon (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park-River Forest) had a career-high 10 rebounds and sophomore Maliso Libomi (Malkoff, France) had a career-best eight blocked shots to pace the UB defensive effort. Libomi's eight blocked shots are the third-best total for a game in school history, tying him with Kelvin Robinson, who accomplished the feat during the 1993-94 season.

On senior night, senior Nate Johnson (O'Fallon, IL, O'Fallon) had seven rebounds, four points, two assists and two steals.

"It's not easy when you're losing like this to come back to practice every day," said Buffalo coach Tim Cohane. "I'm as pleased and proud of this team as any I've had here because of that. Nate's leadership through all of this has been remarkable and has really shown the younger guys how to deal with adversity."

Mike Brown was NIU's only double figure scorer with 10 points while Rey Jones had nine points and nine rebounds. The Huskies defeated Buffalo, 74-46, in DeKalb on Jan. 28.

"It feels good, it feels real good," said Campbell of the win. "On senior night, we got Nate the win - we're just going to enjoy this one."

UB led 27-23 at halftime as Campbell hit a fade-away 25-foot three-pointer at the buzzer. Neither team led by more than four in the first half. The Bulls took control of the game early in the second half. Leading, 29-26, Campbell hit another three-point, Libomi converted a layup and Johnson had a jump hook in the lane to make it 36-26 with 14:22 remaining. The Huskies never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Cohane credited Libomi's shot-blocking prowess as the difference in the game.

"He blocked eight but he must have changed 10 more," said Cohane. "It got to the point where they were just afraid to shoot inside. I thought that was the difference in the game. Our frontcourt really rebounded as well as they have all year."