University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: March 11, 2004

Basketball

MEN'S

UB 77, Ohio 49
UB 68, Akron 60
UB 90, Northern Illinois 73 (MAC Tournament First Round)

UB beat Northern Illinois, 90-73, in the opening round of the 2004 First Energy Mid-American Conference Tournament on Monday night in Alumni Arena. The largest crowd in Alumni Arena history (8,971) witnessed the Bulls score a season-high 90 points to advance to Cleveland for the first time since joining the conference in 1998. UB will face Toledo in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals tonight in Gund Arena.

Yassin Idbihi, who was named to the MAC All-Freshman team earlier in the day and finished third for MAC Freshman of the Year, played like a seasoned veteran on Monday night. The Bulls' center led UB with a career-high 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds. He scored 15 of his points in the first stanza and helped the Bulls weather a cold shooting spell early on in the first half.

Despite being the number 12 seed, the Huskies were not going to go away quietly. After the Bulls took a 6-3 lead, a dunk by Rome Sanders ignited a 10-2 run that gave Northern Illinois a 15-8 advantage. With 8:34 left in the half, the Huskies increased their lead to 26-18 following a three-pointer by P.J. Smith, who scored 15 of his game-high 28 points in the first half. However, the Bulls scored eight straight points to tie the game, 26-26, with 6:14 left in the half. After Northern Illinois reclaimed a 35-34 lead, the Bulls rattled off nine straight points to take a 43-35 advantage. UB held a 43-38 lead at the half.

The Bulls scored five unanswered points to open the second half and took a 10-point advantage. The Huskies whittled the UB lead down to four points with 10:30 remaining. However, Calvin Cage answered with a three-pointer to put the Bulls back up by seven points. After Mark Bortz slammed home two points, Roderick Middleton intercepted a pass and threaded a perfect bounce pass ahead to Daniel Gilbert, who jammed home two more points, extending the Bulls' lead to 76-63 with 6:30 left in the game. Northern Illinois never threatened again and UB cruised to a 17-point victory.

Although Northern Illinois shot a sizzling 59.6 percent (28-47) from the floor, the Huskies coughed up the ball 16 times. The Bulls were able to convert the turnovers into 22 points. Conversely, UB did a tremendous job of taking care of the ball and recorded a season-low five turnovers in the game.

The Bulls closed out the regular season with a pair of wins, zipping past Akron, 68-60, on Saturday, following a 77-49 win over Ohio on March 3 in Alumni Arena.

WOMEN'S

Ohio 62, UB 56
Marshall 69, UB 45 (MAC First Round)

The Bulls closed out the season with a 62-56 loss at home to Ohio on March 2 in the regular-season finale and a 69-45 loss at Marshall in the first round of the MAC Tournament.

The Bulls held the lead for the majority of a tightly played first half against Ohio that saw the score tied on six occasions.

After holding a 31-29 halftime advantage, the Bulls increased their lead to as many as eight points early on in the second half, largely thanks to Jessica Kochendorfer who scored eight of her 10 second-half points in the first six minutes. After a jumper by Kim Kilpela gave the Bulls a 47-42 lead with 7:47 remaining in the game, the Bobcats embarked on an 11-0 run over a span of two minutes and 28 seconds to take over the lead. Ohio freshman Angel Hornsburger gave OU its first lead of the half, 48-47, with a layup at the 5:56 mark. Brooke Meunier was called for an intentional foul on the layup, and Hornsburger made one of the two free throws for a three-point play, and Erin Isbell scored Ohio's other eight points during the 11-0 spurt. Allison Bennett hit a three-pointer for the Bulls with 3:50 on the clock, and UB then blocked three straight OU shots—two by Kochendorfer and one by Kilpela—to keep the Bobcats off the board. A bucket by Meunier cut the Bobcats' lead to one, 55-54, with 2:37 to play, but Isbell answered with a bucket for the Bobcats and the Bulls were forced to foul. UB missed its final four field-goal attempts in the final 36 seconds of the game.

Although UB had beaten Marshall during the regular season, a second victory wasn't to be as the Bulls fell, 69-45, to the Thundering Herd in Huntington, W.Va. to end UB's season at 6-21 overall and 4-12 in the MAC.

After leading by 12 at the half, 36-24, the Thundering Herd started the second half with a 12-0 run, holding the Bulls scoreless for the first four minutes. The Bulls missed their first seven shots until a jumper by Kilpela finally fell with 14:48 on the clock, making the score 48-26. Marshall extended the run to 23-2 to go up by 33 points, 59-26, for its largest lead of the game.

Kilpela led the Bulls with 20 points to become just the 14th player in UB women's basketball history to surpass the 1,000 mark for career scoring. She finishes her career with 1,005 career points.

Kochendorfer, who was named as an Honorable Mention selection to the All-MAC team on Monday, added eight points and 11 rebounds in her final game in a UB uniform. She finished the season leading the Bulls in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.5 rpg).

Indoor Track and Field

Laske, Olson win ECAC titles

Two UB women's track and field athletes won individual titles at the ECAC Championships, held March 3-5 in the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

The women's squad tallied 28 team points to finish 10th in a field of 45 scoring teams. UB's men were unable to score in the IC4A meet.

Middle-distance runner Allison Laske and pole vaulter Laura Olson won individual titles to lead the UB women. Laske twice broke the school record in the 800-meter run to complete her charge to the title. In the preliminary heats, Laske turned in an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 2:08.59 and cut Udo Okeke's 2000 UB record of 2:09.32 by three-quarters of a second. Laske's time also was the fastest among the field's 23 entrants. In the finals, Laske again cut the school record by another second and won the championship with a 2:07.62 clocking, two seconds ahead of her nearest competitors.

Olson, meanwhile, scored a victory in the women's pole vault competition with a height of 12-11.50 (3.95m). The senior won the event by four inches over the second- and third-place finishers.

For the UB men, the top individual finisher was freshman Rayshon Higgins, who took 19th in the triple jump at 46-1.50 (14.06m).

Swimming

MEN'S

Bulls finish fifth at MAC Championships

UB finished the 2004 MAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in fifth place among the five teams. The Bulls scored 322 points in the three-day competition at Eastern Michigan University's Jones Natatorium. The host Eagles won the meet for the fifth consecutive time with 1,010 points. Miami (699), Ball State (592), Ohio (515) and UB completed the field.

Leading the Bulls was sophomore diver Patrick Lee, who scored a season-best 468.40 points to place second in the three-meter diving competition, just 7.5 points shy of champion Robert Krichbaum of Ohio. Lee finished third in the one-meter competition.

The Bulls scored a pair of championship finalists in the 400 individual medley. Erik Schwarz finished seventh in 4:08.14, while teammate Mark Sy placed eighth in 4:08.75 after turning in a preliminary round clocking of 4:05.78. Schwarz reached the championship final after finishing his preliminary race in 4:08.46. Both of Schwarz's times were lifetime-bests.

Sy placed seventh in the 200 butterfly in 1:53.05 after clocking a 1:53.81 in the preliminary heat to make the finals as the eighth championship finalist.

Wrestling

McKnight Pawlak, Cerminara Advance to NCAA Championships

For the first time since the 2000-01 season, UB will send three wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. On Sunday, freshman Mark McKnight (125 pounds) senior Ed Pawlak (174 pounds) and junior Kyle Cerminara (197 pounds) each won individual titles at the MAC Championships, which earned them a trip to the NCAA Championships March 18-20 in St. Louis.

As a team, UB placed fourth in the six-team field. Central Michigan won with 89.5 points, followed by Northern Illinois (73.0), Ohio (55.5), UB (39.5), Eastern Michigan (36.0) and Kent State (36.0).

Baseball

Maryland 6-13, UB 1-2
UB 6, Maryland 0

UB dropped a doubleheader, then rebounded with a victory against Maryland in a three-game series at The Diamond in Richmond, Va. The games were moved to Richmond from College Park, Md., because Maryland's field was not ready.

In Friday's 6-1 opener, Maryland scored in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. The Bulls answered right back with a solo homer by James Kinglsey in the top of the second inning to tie the game. However, the Terrapins then scored five unanswered runs for the victory.

In game two, Maryland scored 13 runs over the first six innings, before Aaron Otto ripped a two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to put the Bulls on the board in the 13-2 contest.

UB used the strong pitching of Sean McWilliams to pick up its first win of the season by blanking the Terps, 6-0. The sophomore hurler allowed seven hits and struck out four over the nine innings to pick up his first win as a Bull. McWilliams was honored on Monday as the MAC East Division Pitcher of the Week.

Softball

UB 5, New Mexico State 3 (8)
Arizona State 8, UB 0
UB 5, New Mexico State 4 (8)
Arizona State 6, UB 0
UB 4, New Mexico State 3
Arizona State 10, UB 0

UB went 3-3 in six games at the Arizona State Triangular.

The Bulls won all three games against New Mexico State, including a pair in extra innings. However UB was unable to score a run in its three losses to 20th-ranked Arizona State.