Every time the Huskies pulled within a shot of the lead, the shots just never fell for the NIU men’s basketball team Monday night at Buffalo.

With 5:13 remaining, Anthony Maestranzi finally connected. Playing with four fouls, Maestranzi caught a pass at the top of the arc and drained a three pointer to give NIU a 61-60 lead. But Buffalo didn’t remain down long.

The Bulls (20-8) went on a 13-5 run and sealed NIU’s third-straight opening round loss in the MAC tournament, 73-66. The loss also was NIU’s 10th straight on the road in the MAC and third straight to Buffalo in the tournament.

“I felt that going into the last four minutes of the game we were in a position to win,” NIU coach Rob Judson said. “Anthony’s shot gave us that chance, but there was still a lot of time left.”

Down 66-70 with 33 seconds left, the Huskies (11-17) tried to force overtime, but UB’s defense forced two straight steals to send the sold out crowd of 6,108 home happy.

NIU guards Cory Sims and Mike McKinney lead the team with 16 and 15 points respectively.

James Hughes came off the bench to score 12 points and block a season high five shots.

Daniel Gilbert led the Bulls with 15 points and three steals.

Buffalo’s top scorer coming into the game, Turner Battle, had to watch much of first half from the bench after with early foul trouble. But the senior guard hit 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch en route to 13 points for the game.

After the final buzzer sounded, Judson gathered his team to give them one last talk.

“We huddled up on the court and I told the team that they left everything out there,” Judson said. “I know they are disappointed right now, but they should be proud of the way they played.”

Buffalo will move on to play Toledo in the MAC quarterfinals on Thursday at Cleveland’s Gund Arena.