University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: January 20, 2005

Basketball

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Akron 75, UB 59
UB 67, Miami (OH) 56

It was a down-and-up week for UB as the Bulls played 1-1 ball in a couple of key Mid-American Conference matchups. The Bulls struggled through a poor shooting night at Akron, falling 75-59, on Jan. 12. UB then rebounded with a thrilling victory over Miami (OH, 67-56, in Alumni Arena on Saturday night.

Against Akron, UB jumped out to a 17-13 lead with 11:02 left in the first half. However, the Zips went on an 11-2 scoring run to take a 24-19 lead with 7:15 left in the half. UB scored only four more points in the first stanza and Akron took a 39-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Bulls held the Zips to 28.6 percent shooting in the second half, but were unable to make much headway. UB cut the lead to 52-40 on a layup by Calvin Cage with 8:02 left in the game, but watched as the Akron lead quickly swelled to 17 points. The Bulls were able to cut the lead to 12 points again on a Jason Bird free throw with 3:58 remaining. However, on the Zips' ensuing possession, Romeo Travis scored a conventional three-point play to put the Zips back up by 15 points and the Bulls never threatened again.

Mark Bortz and Yassin Idbihi accounted for nearly half of the Bulls' points. Bortz finished with 13 points and Idbihi had 12 points. The Bulls outrebounded the Zips, 48-36, with Idbihi leading the way with nine boards.

On Saturday, UB capitalized on one of its finest defensive efforts of the season to defeat division leader Miami (OH), 67-56. Roderick Middleton led the Bulls with a season-best 17 points and added four rebounds and three assists.

UB (10-4, 3-3 MAC) kept Miami (8-5, 3-2 MAC) off of the scoreboard for the first 10:07 of the contest. However, the Bulls struggled a bit offensively themselves early, only managing a 7-2 lead with 9:52 remaining in the first half. The Bulls led by as many as eight points before settling for a 25-21 halftime lead.

The Bulls scored five straight points to open the second half—capped by a Turner Battle layup—to take a 30-21 lead with 18:20 remaining. However, the RedHawks countered with a 7-0 scoring run to cut the UB lead to 30-28. A three-pointer by Bird put the Bulls back up by eight points with 13:23 left in the game. Miami fought back to knot the contest at 43 with 8:40 remaining. The lead see-sawed for the next few minutes until Battle scored five straight points to put the Bulls ahead, 58-53, with 3:07 left in the game. After Miami's William Hatcher hit a three-pointer to cut the UB lead to 58-56, the Bulls closed the game on a 9-0 scoring run. Six of the nine points came from Middleton.

Battle finished with 16 points and Cage added nine. All of Cage's points came in the second half, including a pair of three-pointers.

WOMEN'S

UB 80, Miami (OH) 61
Ball State 75, UB 55

Four players scored in double figures, led by a career-high 21 points from senior Allison, and UB shot 56.6 percent from the floor to shock the visiting Miami University RedHawks, 80-61, on Jan. 12 in front of 425 fans in Alumni Arena. The Bulls' 80 points are the most they have scored since an 86-80 overtime win at Youngstown State on Dec. 18, 2002.

Junior Brooke Meunier, celebrating her 21st birthday, scored the game's opening bucket at the 19:53 mark and then had a steal and an assist on a layup by freshman Stephanie Bennett to get the Bulls out to a 4-0 lead. The Bulls made their first four shots from the floor to jump out to an 11-5 lead with 17:30 on the clock, but Miami's Cindi Merrill hit three straight shots for a 6-0 run that tied the score at 11-11 at the 15:40 mark. A three-pointer by Miami's Nicki Motto put the RedHawks up 14-13 with 14:36 on the clock, and the lead would change hands nine more times before the end of the half. Following a three-point play by Merrill that cut Miami's deficit to 29-27 with 3:53 to play, the Bulls closed the half with a 6-0 run while the RedHawks went 0-for-9 from the floor to give UB a 35-27 advantage at the break.

The Bulls opened the second half with a 7-0 run to go up by 15, 42-27, at the 18:42 mark, and they put the game out of reach with a 17-3 run over a span of 4:33 midway through the half. The run began with four straight three-pointers-two by Stephanie Bennett and one each from Allison Bennett and sophomore Belinda Gibb. A later 6-0 run gave the Bulls their largest lead of the game at 29 points, 74-45, with 4:16 to play before they settled for the 19-point victory.

The Bulls shot 30-for-53 from the floor in the game, including 13-for-28 in the first half (46.4 percent) and 17-for-25 in the second half (68.0 percent). Allison Bennett was a perfect 6-for-6 in the second half, scoring 16 of her game-high 21 points. Stephanie Bennett was a perfect 4-for-4 in the first half and finished the game 7-for-10 and 4-for-5 from three-point range for a career-high 18 points. She also added seven assists and six rebounds. Meunier finished with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, and freshman Heather Turner added 11 points and seven rebounds.

The winning streak was short-lived, however, as the visiting Ball State Cardinals had two players record double-doubles and capitalized on second chances and UB turnovers to defeat the Bulls (3-11 overall, 1-2 MAC), 75-55, on Saturday.

After UB jumped out to a 5-0 lead, a 10-5 Ball State spurt tied the score at 10-10 at the 12:21 mark, and a three-pointer by Kate Endress then put the Cardinals ahead for good. Endress scored 11 of the Cardinals' first 20 points on her way to a game-high 21. A 10-1 Ball State run late in the first half gave the Cardinals a double-digit lead, 30-18, with 3:42 on the clock, but the Bulls closed the half on an 8-1 run to cut their deficit to five at the break, 31-26.

Ball State quickly upped its lead to double figures again with a 6-0 run to start the half, making the score 37-26 with 18:19 to play. The Cardinals extended the run to 12-4 to go up 43-30 at the 15:09 mark, while the Bulls went 0-for-3 from the floor and committed four turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half.

Swimming

MEN'S

Ball State 156, UB 81

UB dropped a 156-81 decision to Ball State in MAC action in Alumni Arena Natatorium on Saturday.

The Bulls (2-2 overall, 1-2 MAC) picked up four victories on the afternoon, with Mark Sy winning a pair of events. Sy won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:44.90, holding off Ball State's Jim Lullo (9:45.33), who closed quickly in the final 15 yards. Sy also won his specialty event, the 200-yard butterfly, in 1:55.18, a half-second ahead of Ball State's Ryan Bowman (1:55.72).

Jeff Hurst earned a win in the 200-yard individual medley. Hurst used a strong kick in the last stroke of the medley, the freestyle, to overtake Ball State's Ritchie Caudill and touch the wall first in 1:57.00. Caudill finished in 1:57.24.

Backstroker Luke Adams also was victorious in his specialty race. Adams cruised to a win in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:55.57.

Wrestling

Cal State-Bakersfield 33, UB 9
UB 25, North Dakota State 15
Edinboro 24, UB 15

UB traveled to Hampton, Va., for the Virginia Duals over the weekend, finishing with a 1-2 mark.

On Friday, freshman Dana Gingerich (141 pounds) registered two pins, but the Bulls lost in the first round to nationally ranked Cal State-Bakersfield, 33-9. However, UB picked up its first dual meet win of the year in the consolation bracket against North Dakota State.

Gingerich and sophomore Jake Blowers (165 pounds) each tallied pins and the Bulls won the first four matches and six out of 10 to take down the Bisons (5-2 overall).

On Saturday, sophomore Mark McKnight (125 pounds) and Junior Garrett Hicks (184 pounds) each notched pins, but for the second time this year, UB came up short against Edinboro, 24-15. The Bulls (1-7 overall) lost to the Fighting Scots (6-2 overall), 24-9, on Dec. 11 at Jamestown Community College.

UB will be back in action tomorrow as the team travels to Oneonta for the New York State Collegiate Championships, where UB finished second in 2004 and took the title in 2003.

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls open season with strong performances at Black Squirrel meet

The men's and women's indoor track and field teams opened their seasons on Saturday at the Black Squirrel Invitational at Kent State University. The UB men scored 103 points to finish second behind Kent State's 151 points. The women placed third in the four-team competition with 122 points, behind Kent State (180) and West Virginia (151).

Senior Jenny Koeppel led the women's team, winning the mile run in 5:00.26 and qualifying for the ECAC Championships in March. Koeppel also established a new personal best in the event, cutting 11 seconds off her previous best.

Senior thrower Faith Thompson also shined in her first competition after redshirting the 2003-04 season. Thompson claimed a victory in the weight throw with a toss of 59-2 (18.03m) and also established an ECAC qualifying mark. Sarah Vance and Patrice Coney earned ECAC qualifying marks in their events as well. Vance finished second in the shot put with a toss of 47-11.75 (14.62m), while Coney's 3,384 points in the pentathlon placed her second overall.

The UB men scored six victories, including junior Todd Joki claiming the two-day heptathlon competition. Joki scored 4,842 points to easily outdistance three Kent State athletes in the seven-event competition.

On the track, senior Steve Strelick claimed the men's mile in 4:21.11. Senior John Flor took the 3,000-meter run in 8:47.30. Sophomore Brian Heim won the 400-meters in 50.09. Sophomore Rayshon Higgins claimed the triple jump at 46-10.25 (14.28m).

The squads will travel to Ithaca next Saturday for the Cornell Invitational.