University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: January 13, 2005

Basketball

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UB 83, Central Michigan 67
UB 56, Toledo 54

A couple of long scoring runs gave UB a pair of Mid-American Conference victories during the week. UB used a 17-0 scoring run at the start of the second half to pull away from Central Michigan and earn its first league victory of the season, 83-67, on Jan. 6 in Rose Arena. UB then erased a 15-point second half deficit with a 20-0 run to knock off Toledo, 56-54, in Alumni Arena on Sunday.

Both wins were important milestones to the UB program. The victory over Central Michigan was the first time that the Bulls had knocked off the Chippewas away from home and the win over Toledo marked the first-ever triumph over the Rockets, the team that knocked the Bulls out of last season's MAC Tournament.

In the Central Michigan contest, Turner Battle scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the second stanza to lead the Bulls. It was all UB in the second half as the Bulls held Central Michigan to 22 percent shooting in the half. Trailing, 43-41, early in the second half, the Bulls got seven straight points from Daniel Gilbert to go ahead, 48-43. Central Michigan remained stuck on 43 points for nearly six minutes and the Bulls were able to take a 58-43 lead with 12:50 remaining. The Bulls would hold the double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

Along with Battle, who also matched a career high with nine assists, three other Bulls reached double-figures in the scoring column. Calvin Cage netted 15 points, including three three-pointers, and had five steals. Gilbert and Yassin Idbihi each scored 12 points. Idbihi added a game-high eight rebounds.

On Sunday, the Bulls (9-3, 2-2 MAC) persevered through a tough shooting day to edge the Rockets. Neither team shot well from the floor—UB shot 38.9 percent, while Toledo shot 32.8 percent.

The Bulls were led by Mario Jordan, who tallied a season-high 14 points and added five rebounds. Battle was the only other UB player to reach double-figures in the scoring column with 11 points while adding seven assists and three steals. All 11 of Battle's points came in the second half.

Toledo, the preseason favorite to win the MAC, went ahead, 48-33, with 11:10 left in the regulation. However, the Bulls mounted a frantic 20-0 scoring run, sparked by an offensive rebound and putback by Jason Bird, and capped by a Gilbert layup to take a 53-48 lead with 3:56 left in the game. Jordan hit a layup to give UB a 56-50 lead with 2:20 remaining. However, the Rockets scored four unanswered points to cut the Bulls' lead to two with one minute left. Toledo had several chances to tie or win the game in the waning moments, but Sammy Villegas, Allen Pinson and Keith Triplett each missed a shot in the final seconds to allow the Bulls to pull out the victory.

The Bulls scored a season-low 19 points in the first half and trailed by seven at the break. However, the Rockets didn't fare much better, scoring 26 first-half points on 27 percent shooting.

The 56 points scored by UB was its lowest point total in a victory since Nov. 24, 1998, when it scored 49 points in a win over Canisius.

The Bulls will take on Miami (OH) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Alumni Arena.

WOMEN'S

Bowling Green 70, UB 45

The visiting Bowling Green Falcons shot 55.6 percent from the floor and hit eight three-pointers in the first half en route to a 70-45 win over UB on Jan. 5 in the MAC opener for both squads. The loss drops UB's record to 2-10 overall and 0-1 in the MAC.

Stephanie Bennett led the Bulls with a season-high 13 points, 11 in the first half. Senior Allison Bennett added 10 points, while freshman Heather Turner scored six points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The Bulls shot 32.0 percent from the floor (16-for-50) in the game.

UB will host Ball State at 5 p.m. on Saturday in Alumni Arena.

Swimming

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UB 132, Canisius 61

UB won all 11 events en route to a 132-61 victory over Canisius College Saturday afternoon in Alumni Arena Natatorium. With the victory, the Bulls improved to 2-1 overall.

Senior Jeff Hurst and junior Kevin Gatley led the Bulls on Saturday with two individual victories and also were on winning relay teams.

Hurst won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.01 and later scored a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:02.55. He also swam the anchor leg of UB's victorious 400-yard medley relay, touching the wall in 3:37.17. Joining Hurst on the relay team were senior Mark Sy, freshman Mike Hurst and senior Fotis Bardis.

Gatley emerged victorious in a pair of freestyle races, taking the 200-yard distance in 1:47.92 and the 100-yard event in 49.25. He also swam the opening leg of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay. Gatley was followed into the water by sophomore Luke Adams, freshman Brian Page and junior Sean Reilley. The UB foursome finished in 3:28.15.

Other individual winners for the Bulls included Adams in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:05.09), senior Jon Yarger in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.37), sophomore Aaron Moessinger in the 100-yard butterfly (54.59), Sy in the 100-yard backstroke (53.29) and senior Evan McCormack in the 500-yard freestyle (4:57.52).

The Bulls will return to MAC competition on Saturday when they host Ball State at 1 p.m.

Wrestling

Northern Illinois 20, UB 15
Tennessee-Chattanooga 29, UB 6
Northwestern 29, UB 9

Sophomore Mark McKnight (125 pounds) picked up two wins, including his 50th career win, to lead UB at the Buckeye Duals on Saturday. However, the Bulls could not manage to get their first dual meet win of the season, falling to MAC foe Northern Illinois, 20-15, Tennessee-Chattanooga, 29-6, and nationally ranked Northwestern (19th in the WrestlingMall.com poll), 29-9.

Sophomore Jeff Parker (heavyweight) also picked up two wins at the meet, improving to 3-2 on the year in dual meets.

UB will returns to the mats tomorrow at the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va., the largest college dual-meet team-tournament in the country.

Volleyball

Kus resigns as head coach

Sally Kus has opted to resign from her position as head coach of the UB women's volleyball team, Bill Maher, interim director of athletics, has announced.

Kus became the eighth head coach in UB volleyball history on Nov. 29, 2001, taking the position on a part-time basis while serving as the health and physical education peer coordinator at Sweet Home Middle School.

"As the volleyball program continues to grow at UB, it has become clear to me that a critical component of the program's future success is the need for a full-time coach," said Kus. "I am grateful to the university for offering this opportunity to continue coaching on a full-time basis, but at this point in my life, I am not ready to make that kind of commitment."

In three years at UB, Kus' teams posted a 28-65 overall record and a 7-43 mark in the MAC.