Buffalo Bulls Men's Basketball at Northern Illinois recap: Bearden leads stellar offensive effort in 90-78 win

The road heavy half of conference play is finally over and it was quite the game for UB to close it out. Coming into this game, the Northern Illinois Huskies were 13-0 at home. Buffalo put the first loss in that right column this season after a dominating performance that resulted in a 90-78 win.

The day started with some great defense from the Bulls. Six minutes in, they stretched open a 16 point lead as Northern couldn't get anything to fall. The Huskies scored their first point off of free throws that were given thanks to a Lamonte Bearden technical foul. Even when the Huskies finally started scoring, they couldn't keep up with the UB offense. By the under seven minute mark, four Buffalo players had six or more points. NIU's struggles didn't last the entire half unfortunately. The Huskies clawed backed into things and destroyed the enormous Buffalo lead. The half closed out with the Bulls leading 47-41.

The second half didn't start according to plan for the Bulls. They racked up four quick fouls and NIU brought the deficit to within three. All it took was a Nick Perkins three to spark things up again. In no time at all, the Bulls had a twelve point lead once again. All night, Perkins had been the opener of the flood gates for this Buffalo offense. Buffalo didn't look back for the rest of the half and kept up the strong offensive game.

Lamonte Bearden had an amazing day in this one. The point guard racked up an impressive stat line. Give me some time to spill this one out: 23 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. The freshmen were a huge highlight in this one. Nick Perkins finished the day with 14 points. CJ Massinburg also had a strong day doing a little bit of everything. His stat line read 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Buffalo returns to Alumni Arena to take on Eastern Michigan this Saturday. They are now in optimal position at 6-3 in MAC play as they enter a home heavy half of conference play. Tip-off is set for 3:30 PM and the game will be televised on ESPN3. More on this game will be said later with the usual takeaways post.

Things are looking good, let's hope it stays that way. Go Bulls.