DEKALB, Ill. – In the first of two meetings within three days, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team dropped a 79-68 decision to Buffalo on Thursday night, Feb. 24, at the NIU Convocation Center. Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) scored a team-high 21 points while Adong Makuoi (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada/Daytona State College) added 12 points. 

"Buffalo is a really good team," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "We had our chances in the first half, we had a bad two minutes that was reminiscent of the last two minutes of the first half against Eastern Michigan. (Buffalo) puts you in bad situations because of their size, they are a very experienced team. They shot 25 free throws and we shot nine, that puts you in a situation where your margin of error is slim, and you have to continue to make shots to stay in the game.

"Our guys competed, we cut it to seven, with the chance to cut it to five on the front end of a one-and-one with about three minutes to go, but we didn't execute a couple things down the stretch and Buffalo did."

With Buffalo in front by a pair three minutes into the contest, Keshawn Williams scored all seven for the Huskies in a 7-2 burst that gave the Huskies a 12-9 lead with 14:33 to play in the opening half. The Chicago Heights native opened the spurt with a triple before adding a pair of baskets as the rim to give NIU a three-point advantage. 

The visitors pulled even at 14 but NIU scored the next five on a bucket from Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio/Weber State) and a triple from the wing by Zool Kueth (Gallatin, Tenn./Pratt CC), giving the Huskies a 19-14 lead with 8:29 left in the half. 

NIU led by four, 28-24, with four minutes remaining in the opening stanza but Buffalo closed the half on a 13-4 run to take a 37-32 lead into halftime. 

Keshawn Williams led all scorers with 13 points in the opening 20 minutes, Kueth added nine points while Jeenathan Williams had 10 points to pace the Bulls. 

Buffalo still led by five just over two minutes into the second half before the Bulls used a 7-2 burst to take a 49-38 lead with 16:32 remaining. 

The Bulls lead grew to as much as 16 just past the midway point of the second half, but the Huskies clawed their way back into the contest. 

Makuoi scored the next four to trim the Buffalo lead back to a dozen, 62-50, with just under eight minutes remaining. After a Buffalo basket push the Bulls lead to 14, NIU answered with the next six as Keshawn Williams, Makuoi and Hunter all scored to cut Buffalo's lead to 64-56 with 5:48 to play. 

The Huskies were within seven, 71-64, after a dunk by Makuoi with 2:41 left and had a chance to get closer from the free-throw line after a defensive stop. NIU missed the front end of the one-and-one however and Buffalo would score the next seven to put the game out of reach. 

Jeenathan Williams finished with a game-high 28 points to lead the Bulls. Ronaldo Segu added 19 points while Josh Mballa chipped in 14 and David Skogman scored 10 with a game-high nine rebounds. 

NIU and Buffalo will meet again in Western New York on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 26. Game time in Buffalo is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN3.