Bulls Head to Cleveland with 85-75 Win Over Northern Illinois

Tuesday, February 28

DeKalb, IL

8:00 pm

14-16,8-9MAC

Northern Illinois

12-18,8-9MAC

Buffalo

NIU

Bulls Head to Cleveland with 85-75 Win Over Northern Illinois

2/28/2023 10:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Buffalo moves to sixth in the MAC standings

DEKALB, Ill. – The University at Buffalo men's basketball team (14-16, 7-9 MAC) defeated the Northern Illinois Huskies (12-18, 8-9 MAC) in blue collar fashion on Tuesday evening, 85-75. Curtis Jones led all scorers with 21 points. Isaiah Adams also finished with 20 on the night. LaQuill Hardnett (15) and Jonnivius Smith (10) finished in double figures. At the glass, Hardnett and Isaac Jack secured eight rebounds each.

Buffalo practically led wire to wire in the contest as the Huskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead. A lead they held for just 23-seconds. A C. Jones three-pointer was all the Bulls needed to keep the lead. The Bulls were blazing as they buried 18 of their 31 first half shots, good for over 58%. The defense held the Huskies to just nine made shot from the floor in the first half. Northern Illinois shot a shade under 35% in the opening 20. The Bulls knocked down five threes courtesy of C. Jones and Adams. Headed into the half, the Bulls led 42-26.

The Bulls kept the offense clicking in the second half as they shot 50%. However, the Huskies were even hotter. They shot 61.3% making 19 of their 31 shots. Northern Illinois made five more shots than the Bulls in the second half, but they missed seven free throws, going 7-for-14 in the second half. The charity stripe was not kind to them as they missed crucial attempts down the stretch when they cut the lead down to seven.

This marked C. Jones' 10^th 20-point performance of the season. Adams is up to five 20-point games on the season. With Hardnett scoring 15 points, this was the sixth time the Bulls had three players score 15 or more points in a game.

Zid Powell, Armoni Foster, and C. Jones handled the ball well as they combined for 11 of the teams' 15 assists.

Kidtrell Blocker had a solid game off the bench as he finished with eight points.

With the win, the Bulls clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament. Buffalo holds the tiebreaker over Northern Illinois in the MAC standings as they swept them on the season.

The Bulls will wrap up the regular season on Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m. against Miami (OH) at 7 p.m. for Senior Night.