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Sports Recap

Published: January 15, 2004

Athletes of the Week

Kyle Cerminara of the wrestling team won the 197-pound match against Clarion's Charlie Cilinski, scoring a major decision with his 21-7 victory. The win by Cerminara, his 25th of the season and 82nd of his career, clinched the 19-17 win over the Golden Eagles who were recieving votes in the National Wrestling Coaches Association Top 25.

Allison Laske of the women's indoor track-and-field team broke the school record for the 500-meter run (1:16.15) at the Kent State Black Squirrel Invitational meet. Laske also qualified for the ECAC Championships in the event, as well as in the 1,000-meter run, with a time of 2:56.65. She had earlier qualified for the ECAC's 800-meter race and is the only UB athlete to establish three qualifying marks thus far in the season.

Basketball

MEN'S

Miami (OH) 72, UB 62
Western Michigan 84, UB 54

UB dropped a pair of Mid-American Conference matchups, with losses to Miami (OH) on Jan. 7 and Western Michigan on Saturday, both in Alumni Arena.

Miami jumped out to an 11-2 advantage and never relinquished the lead. UB got off to a sluggish start-scoring only three points in the first six minutes of the contest. The Bulls mounted a 9-2 scoring run, capped by a Mark Bortz layup, to cut the lead to 13-12 with 10:22 left in the half.

However, Miami answered with a 12-2 run of its own to take a 25-14 lead. Miami led at the half, 41-26. The RedHawks were deadly from beyond the arc in the first half as they knocked down seven three-pointers.

The RedHawks extended their lead to 50-30 with 16:01 left in the game. The Bulls were able to chip away at the lead and managed to cut the Miami advantage to six points, 54-48, following a three-pointer by Roderick Middleton at the 8:04 mark. However, the Bulls got no closer as Miami made key buckets and converted on its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 10-point victory.

The Bulls then dropped an 84-54 decision to a red-hot Western Michigan squad on Saturday afternoon. The Broncos (9-1, 3-0) showed why they are the 14th ranked team in the nation, according to the Ratings Percentage Index, shooting 55.9 percent from the floor and holding the Bulls to only 32.1 percent shooting.

The Bulls (5-7, 1-3) trailed, 9-7, early in the game before entering a dry spell that allowed the Broncos to go on a 15-2 run and take control of the contest. Western Michigan shot a sizzling 64 percent in the first stanza to establish a 42-20 halftime advantage.

The second half proved to be much of the same. The Bulls got no closer than 22 points. Even when the Broncos missed shots, they were able to corral the offensive rebound and reset their offense, preventing UB from capitalizing. Western Michigan outrebounded the Bulls, 45-30, for the game.

The loss was the fourth in a row for the Bulls.

WOMEN'S

Miami (OH) 94, UB 64
Western Michigan 78, UB 53

The visiting Miami University RedHawks dominated inside and out, scoring 52 points in the paint and knocking down 10 three-pointers en route to a 30-point victory over UB, 94-64, in the Bulls' MAC opener on Jan. 7.

The RedHawks jumped out to a double-digit lead less than six minutes into the game, 18-8, and the Bulls never got closer than 10 for the remainder of the game.

The visiting Bulls then suffered a 78-53 loss to Western Michigan on Saturday in Kalamazoo. The loss was UB's seventh straight and dropped the Bulls' record to 1-9 overall and 0-2 in the MAC.

The Bulls opened the scoring on a jumper by senior Jessica Kochendorfer on their first possession of the game, but the Broncos later embarked on a 22-1 run to open up a 30-7 lead with 8:30 left in the first half. WMU's Casey Rost hit three straight three-point shots during the run, and she finished the half with 20 points and four three-pointers. The Broncos shot 58.6 percent from the floor (17-for-29) and 43.8 percent from three-point range (7-for-16) in the first 20 minutes, taking a 25-point lead to the locker room at halftime, 45-20.

Western Michigan then began the second half with a 20-0 run, holding the Bulls without a bucket in the first seven minutes of the half. A jumper by Freshman Belinda Gibb with 12:49 left finally got the Bulls on the board, but the Broncos answered with a three-pointer to give them their largest lead of the game at 46 points, 68-22. UB ended the game with a 24-6 run to cut the final deficit back down to 25, 78-53.

Wrestling

UB 19, Clarion 17

UB posted a 19-17 home victory over Clarion on Saturday night. Six Bulls were victorious in the win, which moved Buffalo's record to 10-2 in dual meets this season.

Mark McKnight began the match by scoring a 6-4 decision over Clarion's Peter Derstine at 125 pounds. UB extended its team lead to 6-0 following Cliff Smith's 4-0 victory over Doug Surra at 133 pounds.

Following a Bulls' loss, Patrick Lloyd responded with a 2-1 overtime victory in the 149-pound weight class over T.J. McCance. UB then lost its next two matches though, falling behind 11-9 in team scoring.

At 174 pounds, Ed Pawlak defeated Aaron Wright by a 3-1 score with a takedown in the match's final seconds. Garrett Hicks followed with a 5-2 victory over Kyle Catchcart at 184 pounds. Kyle Cerminara guaranteed a Bulls' win by posting a 21-7 major decision over Charlie Cilinski at 197 pounds.

UB's next action will occurs on Jan. 23-24 at the New York State Collegiate Championships, hosted by Nassau Community College.

Swimming

MEN'S

UB 134, Canisius 63

UB rolled to a 134-63 victory over visiting Canisius College Saturday afternoon in the Alumni Arena Natatorium. The Bulls improved to 2-1 in dual meet competition.

UB placed first in all 13 events. Junior Geoff Wells and sophomores Mark Sy and Patrick Lee won two events each to lead the Bulls.

Wells won the 500 freestyle in 4:59.05 and followed with a victory in the 100 breaststroke in 59.81. Sy, meanwhile, rolled to freestyle victories at 100- (48.62) and 200-yards (1:44.15). Lee, UB's top diver won on the one-meter board with 242.40 points and the three-meter board with 253.28 points.

Other UB individuals with victories included freshman James Wood in the 1,000 freestyle (10:15.91), sophomore Jeff Hurst in the 50 freestyle (22.11), junior Jon Yarger in the 200 individual medley (2:01.65) and Luke Adams in the 100 butterfly (54.37). Adams also swam the first leg of the winning 200 medley relay team.

The Bulls, who have now defeated Canisius 11 straight times, will host Niagara at 4 p.m. today.

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls Post Top Marks at Black Squirrel Meet

UB's men's and women's indoor track-and-field teams returned to Kent State University for the second time in as many meets participating in the Black Squirrel Invitational on Saturday. There was no team scoring in the meet.

The UB women were led by Allison Laske, who set a new school record in the 500-meter run. Laske, a senior, broke Jenelle Callender's 1999 record by more than a second with her 1:16.15 clocking. She won the slower heat in the 11-runner field and placed second overall to MAC-rival Kia Flowers of Akron (1:14.39). The time also qualified her for the ECAC Championships at the end of the season. Laske has qualified for regional competition in two events, earning a spot in the 800-meter race at the season-opening meet at Kent State last month. She also placed second in the 1,000-meters in 2:56.65, behind Kent State's Kelly Green.

Other highlights for the UB women included a victory in the pentathlon by Meagan Rogers, who won the five-event competition with a total of 3,316 points, more than 200 points better than the second- and third-place finishers from the University of Pittsburgh.

The UB men picked up a strong performance from the distance medley relay squad. The foursome of Todd Ludden, Rich Juszkiewicz, Bryan Weinstein and Dan McKenna qualified for the IC4A Championships with its third-place finish of 10:10.47.

Juszkiewicz also finished second in the 800-meter run in 1:56.00, while distance racers Andy Wigton and Brian Smith placed second in their races. Wigton finished the 3,000-meter distance in 8:44.14, six seconds behind Liberty's Dan Rabe, while Smith finished second to an unattached runner in the 5,000-meter race in 15:45.53. Rayshon Higgins took third in the triple jump at 45-6.50 (13.88m). McKenna placed third in the mile in 4:22.33.

UB hurdles coach Ron Andrews, racing as an unattached entrant, won the 60-meter hurdles, easily winning in 7.91 seconds, more than three-tenths of a second faster than the second-place finisher.

Football

Graham, Johnson Invited to Play in All-Star Games

UB football players Mark Graham and Adam Johnson have been selected to play in senior all-star games.

Graham, a free safety, will participate in The Villages Gridiron Classic in Florida on Jan. 31 Johnson, a long snapper, will play in the Hula Bowl on Saturday in Hawaii. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN.