University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 27, 2003

Basketball

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Kent State 98, UB 55
Miami (OH) 63, UB 35

UB fell to Kent State, 98-55, in Mid-American Conference action in the Memorial Athletic Center on Feb. 18. The Golden Flashes, the MAC East Division's top team, shot 56.9 percent from the floor and dominated the inside game. Kent State also capitalized on 14 UB turnovers, turning them into 21 points.

The Bulls played well in the opening stages of the contest. The teams traded buckets for the early part of the first half and a Mario Jordan layup tied the game, 17-17, with 12:20 remaining. However, Kent State shooters heated up and went on an 18-1 scoring run and never looked back. The Golden Flashes held a 46-26 halftime advantage.

The Kent State barrage continued in the second half, allowing the Golden Flashes to coast to the victory.

On Saturday, the Bulls again struggled offensively, dropping a 63-35 decision to Miami in Alumni Arena. It marked the second straight game that the Bulls suffered through a poor shooting performance.

The numbers told the story of this game, as UB shot 20 percent (10-50) from the floor, including 16.7 percent (4-24) from beyond the arc. Conversely, Miami shot 50 percent (24-48) from the field, including eight three-pointers. The 35 points scored by the Bulls—now 4-19 overall and 1-13 in the MAC—was the lowest total by a UB squad since the inception of the shot clock. The Bulls did win the battle of the boards, however, outrebounding the RedHawks, 38-32.

WOMEN'S

UB 76, Ohio 59
UB 64, Central Michigan 54

Senior Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe led three players in double figures with a career-high 30 points to send UB to a 76-59 win at Ohio on Feb. 19.

The Bulls jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, increased that lead to double digits, 16-5, at the 15:10 mark of the first half, and then led by at least 10 points for the remainder of the game. The Bulls shot 53.4 percent from the floor (31-for-58), compared to Ohio's 40.0 percent (20-for-50), and outrebounded the Bobcats by a 37-26 margin.

McMeeken-Ruscoe continued her strong play on Saturday, as she scored a game-high 22 points and Kim Kilpela posted her second double-double in three games with 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds to lead the Bulls to a 64-54 road win at Central Michigan. The win improved the Bulls' record to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in the MAC and increased their winning streak to four games.

Wrestling

UB 19, Eastern Michigan 16
Northern Illinois 31, UB 6
Ohio 16, UB 16 (Ohio wins on tiebreaker criteria)

UB was criteria points away from finishing a weekend of MAC action with a pair of wins. As it was, the Bobcats of Ohio University earned one more near-fall than the Bulls and, despite a 16-16 tie, were credited with the victory.

UB finished the regular season with a 9-6 dual meet mark and 1-4 in the MAC by defeating Eastern Michigan, 19-16, while losing to Northern Illinois, 31-6 score, on Saturday at Ypsilanti, Mich.

Sophomore Kyle Cerminara was the only Bull to go unbeaten on the weekend, posting a 3-0 mark to improve to 30-9 on the season, 11-2 in dual meets and 4-1 against MAC competition. Seniors Ryan Bentley and Gary Cooper, sophomore Labe Black and freshman Mike Sebaaly all went 2-1 on the weekend for the Bulls.

The Bulls opened with a 19-16 win over Eastern Michigan, remaining unbeaten against the Eagles in Buffalo's MAC tenure. Sebaaly, Mike Trotta, Bentley, Black and Cooper posted wins for UB, but the match was tied at 16-16 until Cerminara downed Travis Craft by an 11-5 score to give the Bulls the win.

The Huskies of Northern Illinois gained a share of the MAC title with a strong 31-6 win over the Bulls in the second match of the day. Cerminara and Bentley each won for the only UB victories.

Wins by Sebaaly, Black, Cooper, Garrett Bontempo and Cerminara helped UB earn a 16-16 deadlock with Ohio before the Bobcats won on back points scored in the match.

The Bulls now are off until the MAC Championships on March 8-9 at Central Michigan University.

Tennis

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Duquesne 4, UB 3

UB dropped a heartbreaker, 4-3, to Atlantic Ten opponent Duquesne on Friday night in Pittsburgh. The match came down to the final singles competition before a winner could be determined.

The Bulls (5-6) opened the match by securing the doubles point with two victories. Number-one singles duo Nick Zieziula and Randy Rocchio picked up an 8-6 win over Rob Ojeda and Micael Lopez-Acevedo. At third doubles, Rohan Raikar and Rangga Prahudha needed an extra game to dispose of brothers Russell and Ryan Moseley by a 9-7 margin. The number-two doubles team of Fery Kasiman and Josh Liederman dropped an 8-5 decision to Seth Fogelman and Devon Peightal.

In the singles competition, UB managed to pick up two victories while Duquesne earned three to tie the match at 3-3 with one match to be completed. Rocchio defeated Russell Moseley, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) at number three, while Prahudha earned a 7-5, 6-4 win at number five over Ryan Moseley for the two UB wins. Kasiman fell in three sets to Fogelman at number one, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. At number two, Liederman was defeated by Lopez-Acevedo, who had transferred to Duquesne from MAC rival Bowling Green, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Raikar also suffered a straight-sets loss to Ojeda at sixth singles, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, setting the stage for the tiebreaking match.

The fourth singles match between Zieziula and Peightal was tightly contested, with Peightal taking the first set, 6-4, before Zieziula rallied to take the second set by an identical 6-4 count to force a third set. Both players remained on serve as the set headed to a tiebreaker, tied at six games apiece. But Zieziula was unable to pull out the victory as he suffered a 7-4 loss in the tiebreaker to give Peightal the 7-6, third-set decision.

UB looks to regroup in warmer climate of Florida during spring-break matches. The team will be in the Sunshine State from March 7-14 before returning north to make up postponed matches at Rochester on March 16 and Western Michigan on March 18.

Football

Lazor leaves UB post for NFL

Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor has accepted a position as offensive quality control coach with the Atlanta Falcons.

Lazor, who came to UB two seasons ago with head coach Jim Hofher, will join head coach Dan Reeves' staff immediately. Lazor worked with Falcons' offensive coordinator Pete Mangurian at Cornell, where Lazor spent six seasons at his alma mater before coming to Buffalo.

Hofher will be looking for a pair of assistants to round out his staff, as defensive backfield coach Clayton Carlin took a position as recruiting and special teams coordinator and safeties coach at New Mexico State last week. Carlin also had come to UB in Hofher's first season and returns to a program where coached for three seasons (1997-99).

The Bulls will begin spring practice sessions on March 21 and conclude the spring sessions with the annual Blue-White Scrimmage at 1 p.m. April 12 in UB Stadium.