January 24, 2011

KALAMAZOO, MI - Fresh off a historic second-half comeback Saturday at Ohio, the Buffalo men's basketball team will face Western Michigan in the final game of the team's road trip.

The last time out, the Bulls stormed back from an 18-point halftime deficit to shock the Ohio Bobcats and the 10,427 fans in attendance, 73-68. It was the largest second-half comeback on the road in the team's history in the Mid American Conference and it was just the second time ever that the Bulls downed Ohio on the road. Junior Zach Filzen matched a career high in points to lead a ferocious Buffalo comeback.

Now finished with the first run through the conference's east division, Buffalo there is now a four-way tie for first place in the east at 3-2 in the MAC and the Bulls are 11-6 overall. The last time the team started the season 11-6 was 1996.

The recent comeback win over Ohio was spurred on by three impressive individual efforts from Byron Mulkey, Javon McCrea and Filzen, who combined to score 44 of the 48 second-half points on the Buffalo side. in the win, Filzen hit a career-best six three pointers and led the team with 23 points. It was the eighth time this season that the breakout junior has led the team in scoring. As a team, Buffalo shot 72 percent in the second half and over 52 percent for the game. So far this season, the team is 5-1 when hitting 52 percent or better from the field.

Western Michigan is also 3-2 in conference play and is coming off an emotional win. Saturday afternoon, the Broncos erased an early 14 point deficit and won on a last-second tip in for an 82-80 win over Northern Illinois. For the season, Western is 10-8 overall with an impressive 7-2 record on its home court.

Individually, the Broncos boast a starting five that each averages eight points or more per game, topped by Demetrius Ward and Flenard Whitfield, who average 12.5 and 12.2 points per game, respectively. Western is averaging over 70 points per game and it is out rebounding the opposition as well.

Western Michigan leads the all-time series 10-5 and has won three of the past four meetings, including an 85-70 win at Alumni Arena last season. Tip off is set for 7 pm and fans can tune in to 1230 WECK for the live audio provided by Josh Whetzel.