BUFFALO, N.Y. – Buffalo jumped out to a quick start, taking an 11-point lead five minutes into the contest, and went on to an 80-62 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7) at Alumni Arena. David Coit (Columbus, N.J.) led the way for the Huskies with 16 points while Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia) had a career high 13 points and a career best seven rebounds. 

"We were inefficient offensively," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "If you look at the first half, we shot 33 percent from the field and from three, and the other thing we had was nine free throw attempts and only made three. I don't think we did a good job of getting great shots, but the shots we did have were in the paint, we missed a lot of easy shots, a lot of bunnies, a lot of floaters."

Buffalo made five of its first six shots from the field and used an early 10-0 run to take a 16-5 lead five minutes into the contest. 

Back-to-back putbacks from Ibarguen helped NIU pull back within seven, 25-18, with 5:53 left in the first half. But the Bulls answered with the next six as the lead grew back to 13. 

Buffalo closed the first half on a 9-1 run as the Bulls took a 45-28 lead into the intermission. Buffalo shot 60 percent (18-of-30) from the field, including 6-of-10 from three-point range, in the opening 20 minutes. Isaac Jack had 10 points, on 5-of-5 shooting, to pace the Bulls in the first half, Ibarguen led the Huskies with six points and six rebounds. 

A pair of buckets from Coit helped ignite a 9-0 NIU run early in the second half. Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio) added a basket during the burst and Armandas Plintauskas (Kedainiai, Lithuania) capped the run with a corner triple as the Huskies trimmed the Buffalo advantage to 53-43 with 12:38 left. 

The home team responded with the next seven points however as the lead grew back to 60-43 with just under 11 minutes to go. 

Coit had five steals in the contest to go along with his team-high 16 points, Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) scored eight points with five assists. 

Four players finished in double figures for Buffalo, led by 19 points from Curtis Jones. Armoni Foster added 13 points, Jack finished with 13, Isaiah Adams scored 11 points and LaQuill Hardnett had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. 

NIU will return home on Tuesday night, Jan. 10, as the Huskies host Central Michigan in its Mid-American Conference home opener. Tipoff against the Chippewas is slated for 7 p.m. and tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets.