Cage leads Bulls with 23

Mar 10, 2005, 09:43 pm

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Calvin Cage scored 23 points and Buffalo moved into the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament for the first time with an 85-72 victory over Toledo on Thursday.

Yassin Idbihi added 15 points and MAC player of the year Turner Battle 12 for the seventh-seeded Bulls (21-8), who avenged a loss to the Rockets (16-13) in last year's quarterfinals.

Buffalo, which joined the MAC in 1998, will play No. 3 Western Michigan in the semifinals on Friday. The Broncos beat sixth-seed Akron 66-60 in overtime.

Keith Triplett led Toledo with 17 points and Keonta Howell had 13.

Backed by five busloads of students who made the three-hour trip from Buffalo, the Bulls built a 15-point lead in the second half on Daniel Gilbert's dunk with 16:27 left. Howell hit a pair of 3-pointers as Toledo closed within 73-68.

But Cage scored on a runner, Battle made a basket and fed Gilbert with a nice pass for a layup as the Bulls pushed their lead

back to 10 and held on.

Cage came in averaging just three points in his previous four

games. But the 6-foot junior made three 3-pointers and scored 17

points in the first half.