CLEVELAND -- Buffalo has never experienced a March like this.
Yassin Idbihi scored 17 points to lead the Bulls into the Mid-American Conference championship for the first time with a 75-68 win against defending champion Western Michigan on Friday night.
The Bulls (22-8) joined the conference in 1997 and haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since becoming a Division I school in 1991.
Buffalo will play fourth-seeded Ohio, which beat Miami (Ohio) 63-56 in Friday's first semifinal, on Saturday for the league title and the MAC's automatic NCAA bid. Ohio won both meetings against Buffalo during the regular season.
The seventh-seeded Bulls will try to make MAC Tournament history -- no team lower than a No. 4 seed has ever won it.
Idbihi, a 6-10 sophomore from Morocco, did it all for Buffalo, sinking hook shots, grabbing rebounds and hitting a 3-pointer during a 14-2 run that gave the Bulls the lead, 51-50, midway through the second half.
Daniel Gilbert then gave the Bulls the lead for good, hitting a 3-pointer with 6:25 remaining and adding a free throw a possession later to go up 61-56. Gilbert finished with 13.
The Bulls were backed by six busloads of fans, who have made the four-hour commute from Buffalo each day of the tournament. They stood cheering the entire game and began chanting "Let's go U-B" during the early Ohio-Miami game.
Third-seeded Western Michigan (19-12) failed in its attempt to become the first repeat champion since Kent State in 2002.
Ben Reed led the Broncos with 15. Joe Reitz and Brian Snider scored 14 each.
Levi Rost, who set a Western Michigan record this season with 87 3-pointers, was 0-of-4 from beyond the arc and the Broncos were 3-of-16.
The Broncos were outrebounded 36-32 by the taller Bulls after setting a MAC Tournament record with 55 rebounds in their quarterfinal win against Akron.
Buffalo led 20-12 midway through the first half, but went dead on offense as Turner Battle, the MAC player of year, missed his first four shots.
Western Michigan took the momentum and put together a 9-0 run, then expanded its lead to 37-29 by halftime.
Calvin Cage, who led the Bulls with 23 points in the quarterfinals against Toledo, was 0-for-7 and Battle shot just 2-of-11.
