University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: January 27, 2005

Basketball

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Kent State 85, UB 80 (OT)

UB dropped an 85-80 overtime decision to Kent State at the MAC Center on Jan. 19, spoiling some late-game heroics by Turner Battle. The senior point guard drained a three-pointer with less than a second to play in regulation to tie the game and send it into overtime.

A layup by Daniel Gilbert gave the Bulls a 24-16 lead with 5:07 left in the first half. However, Kent State rattled off 12 straight points to take a 28-24 lead with 2:52 remaining in the first stanza. A layup by Battle and a three-pointer by Calvin Cage helped regain the lead for the Bulls late in the half. However, a jumper by DeAndre Haynes gave Kent State a 30-29 lead at the break.

UB (10-5, 3-4 MAC) scored the first 11 points of the second half—eight of which came from Mario Jordan—to take a 40-30 lead with 14:56 remaining. The Bulls held the 10-point advantage with 10:10 left in the game. The Golden Flashes went on a 9-0 scoring run, in a span of 1:45, to quickly cut the UB lead to 50-49 with 8:25 remaining. A three-pointer by Jay Youngblood gave Kent State its first lead of the second half at 63-62 with 3:54 remaining. Cage responded with his fourth three-pointer of the game on the Bulls' next possession to give UB a 65-63 advantage. A pair of free throws by Kevin Warsynski gave the Golden Flashes a 70-67 lead with seven seconds remaining. However, Battle banked home a three-pointer from the top of the key with 0.6 seconds remaining to tie the contest and send it into overtime.

In the extra session, the Bulls took a 74-73 lead on a jumper by Yassin Idbihi with 4:06 left. Following three straight points by Kent State, Idbihi knotted the contest at 76 with a pair of free throws with 2:40 remaining. However, a Warsynski layup gave the Golden Flashes the lead for good and they held on for the five-point victory.

Battle, scoring a season-high 25 points, was one of four Bulls to finish the night in double-figures. Cage tallied 14 points, Idbihi added 13 and Jordan scored 10 points. Mark Bortz led UB with seven rebounds.

WOMEN'S

Akron 71, UB 63
Marshall 72, UB 51

UB got itself in too big of a hole that it could not climb out of—despite a gutsy second-half comeback attempt led by senior Talia Merlino that came up short—in a 71-63 loss to the Akron Zips on Jan. 19 in James A. Rhodes Arena.

A hungry Akron squad came out looking for its first win of the season and quickly jumped out to a 9-0 lead while the Bulls missed their first six shots from the floor in the game's first four minutes. Back-to-back three-pointers gave the Zips their biggest lead of the half at 17 points, 25-8, with 7:46 on the clock, and they took a 35-21 lead into the locker room at halftime following a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Junior Brooke Meunier scored seven points during a 9-3 Buffalo run to open the second half that cut Akron's lead to eight, 38-30, with 16:42 to play. The Zips responded with a 15-3 run to go up by 20, 53-33, at the 10:13 mark, but the Bulls didn't give up quite yet. Merlino came off the bench and hit three straight three-pointers for a 9-0 UB run, and she scored four more points as the run extended to 15-4 to cut the Bulls' deficit to nine, 57-48, with 5:35 on the clock. The Bulls kept chipping away, and a jumper by senior Allison Bennett with 2:04 remaining got them within six, 63-57. Sophomore Belinda Gibb later dribbled the length of the court for an easy layup with exactly 1:00 on the clock that brought UB to within four, 65-61, but the Zips made 8-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes of the game to hold on for the victory.

The Bulls had five players finish in double figures in scoring for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Merlino set a career high and Gibb tied her career high with 13 points apiece, and Merlino also tied her career-high with four three-pointers. Bennett and freshman Heather Turner added 11 points apiece, and Meunier finished with 10 points and six assists. The Bulls were 24-for-59 from the floor (40.7 percent) and 7-for-23 from three-point range (30.4 percent) in the game.

Akron finished the game shooting 41.1 percent from the floor (23-for-56) with eight three-pointers.

On Saturday, the Marshall Thundering Herd used a 21-3 run midway through the second half—holding the Bulls without a field goal for more than eight minutes—to run away with a 72-51 win in Alumni Arena.

Marshall (9-7 overall, 3-2 Mid-American Conference) was just 3-for-7 from three-point range in the game, but all three makes came in the first three minutes of the first half as the Thundering Herd went 4-for-4 from the floor to jump out to an early 11-5 lead. Marshall upped its lead to double digits, 27-17, with 6:31 remaining in the first half, but the Bulls used a 9-2 run, with five of the points coming from Turner, to battle back to within three, 29-26, with 3:01 to play. KaShawna Curry answered with a layup that started a 9-1 Marshall run to close the half and send the Thundering Herd to the locker room with a 38-27 advantage.

Freshman Stephanie Bennett opened the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer at the 19:22 mark, but Curry then converted a three-point play and added a layup during a 7-0 Marshall run that put the Herd up by 15, 45-30, with 17:38 on the clock. A layup by Turner at the 16:01 mark made the score 47-34, and Marshall then embarked on the 21-3 run to blow the game open. The Bulls were 0-for-6 from the floor and 3-for-9 from the foul line during the span of 8:36 before Turner hit another jumper at the 7:25 mark. The Herd led by as many as 33 points, 72-39, down the stretch before UB closed the gap with a 12-0 run to end the game at 72-51.

Turner led the Bulls with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor while also grabbing six rebounds. Allison Bennett, playing in her 100th career game, reached double digits with 10 points, while Stephanie Bennett grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds. The Bulls shot 37.3 percent from the floor in the game (19-for-51) and were just 12-for-24 from the free throw line.

Swimming

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UB 114, Niagara 62

UB scored a 114-62 victory in non-conference action at Niagara's Oxy Aquatic Center on Jan. 19. The Bulls improved to 3-2 on the season and the win over the Purple Eagles marked the 25th straight for UB in the series.

Mark Sy led the Bulls with a pair of individual victories, winning the 200-yard individual medley in 2:03.54 and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:59.65.

Four additional Bulls scored single individual triumphs. Jeff Hurst won the 50-yard freestyle in 22.77. Dustin Hui took the 200-yard butterfly in 2:02.24. Jon Yarger scored a win in the 100-yard freestyle in 49.40. Aaron Moessinger won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:11.49.

UB also added a relay victory in the meet's opening event, the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Kurt Bessel, Moessinger, Geoff Wells and Hurst turned in a 1:40.65 clocking.

The Bulls will host defending MAC champion Eastern Michigan at 4 p.m. tomorrow in Alumni Arena.

WOMEN'S

UB 169, Niagara 62

UB defeated Niagara, 169-62 in a non-conference meet on Jan. 19. The Bulls improved to 3-4 with the win. With inclement weather forcing the Bulls to be unable to travel to Niagara, the two squads competed in their home waters.

UB scored a pair of diving victories as Ashlee Burton claimed both the one-meter (245.10 points) and three-meter (230.92 points) competitions. Burton was the only Bull to win more than one individual event.

Eugénie Viale took first in the 1000-yard freestyle in 11:08.54. Bridget Quinn won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:02.96. Andrea Scharf placed first in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.22. Frances Stephenson took the 200-yard individual medley in 2:15.26. Janet Reynolds earned first in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:16.50. Olga Wojcik won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:16.04. Amanda Marcus was victorious in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:46.37 and Jennefer Brankovsky claimed first in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:27.85.

UB also claimed first place in both relay events. The 200-yard medley squad of Wojcik, Brankovsky, Jackie English and Scharf placed first in 1:54.93. The 200-yard freestyle relay squad of English, Scharf, Stephenson and Jennifer Raimondi took the top spot in 1:42.92.

Niagara's Traci Liberi finished first in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.72, the only event won by the Purple Eagles.

UB's meet on Saturday against Akron was postponed due to the snowy conditions.

Wrestling

Bulls place second at state collegiate championship

Two first-place finishes and three second-place finishes wasn't quite enough to lift UB to its ninth New York State Collegiate Championship at the 36th annual event, held at SUNY Oneonta on Saturday.

UB also added three third-place finishes and two fifth-place finishes to rack up 172 points, a season-high, but still 23 points behind Army, who wrapped up its 10th championship after garnering four individual championships at the meet.

Sophomores Mark McKnight (125 pounds) and Mark Budd (133 pounds) each wrapped up titles for the Bulls.

McKnight, ranked 18th in the nation by WrestlingMall.com, pinned Oswego's Walter Sosnowski 43 seconds into the second period and beat No. 2 seed Jeff Sato of Columbia, 5-3, to earn his first New York State Championship. McKnight is now 21-11 on the season, having lost to 11 Top 20 wrestlers.

Budd wrapped up his first New York State Championship by beating Army's Tony Severo, 9-5, in the semifinals and No. 1 seed Matt DeLorenzo of Columbia, 3-1, in the finals. Budd, who claimed his first collegiate tournament championship with the win, is now 16-14 on the season.

Freshman Dana Gingerich (141 pounds) and juniors Garrett Hicks (184 pounds) and Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each finished third.

UB is next in action on Sunday, traveling to Ohio University for a MAC dual meet.

Indoor Track and Field

Men's and women1s teams finish second at Cornell Upstate Challenge

UB finished second to Cornell in both the men's and women's divisions of the Cornell Upstate Challenge held Saturday at Barton Hall in Ithaca. UB's men scored 112 points to Cornell1s 240 in the six-team meet, while the women posted 165 points to Cornell's 210 among the six squads.

Faith Thompson led the UB women with her winning performance in the weight throw event. Thompson broke her own school record by nearly two feet and set a new Barton Hall record with a toss of 62-6 (19.05m). Thompson's throw was more than seven feet better than the second-place finisher and provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships in March. UB's Sarah Vance was fifth in the event at 51-10.50 (15.81m).

Vance, meanwhile, qualified for the ECAC Championships in winning the shot put at 46-9 (14.25m). Thompson was second at 44-3.50 (13.50m) and Bev Weyer was third at 41-4.25 (12.60m).

Other women's winners for the Bulls included Kelli O'Brien in the 5,000-meters in 17:55.12, Charisse Everett in the 60-meters in 7.84, Celestine Coney in the 500-meters in 1:16.23, Jessica Lister in the pole vault at 11-3.75 (3.45m) and the 4x800-meter relay team (9:38.18).

Jen Jezorski also earned an ECAC bid with her second-place finish in the 1,000-meters in 2:55.36.

In the men's meet, the Bulls won a pair of field events and took first in a relay. Todd Joki took the long jump at 23-2 (7.06m), with teammate Reggie Rucker finishing second at 23-1.75 (7.05m). Freshman Mike Giordano won the shot put with a throw of 51-2.75 (15.61m). All three Bulls earned trips to the IC4A Championships with their performances.

UB relayers easily won the 4x800-meter relay in 8:09.30. Colgate finished second in 8:21.88.

Also earning an IC4A qualifying mark was Rayshon Higgins in the triple jump. Higgins placed second in the event with a leap of 47-11 (14.60m).

Tennis

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Manhattan 7, UB 0
Brown 6, UB 1

UB opened the spring portion of the 2004-05 schedule over the weekend with a three-match road swing through the Northeast. The Bulls dropped matches on Friday and Saturday, and the winter storm that hammered the region over the weekend forced the Bulls to cancel their match at Boston College on Sunday.

On the court, it was a rough start as UB opened with a 7-0 loss to Manhattan on Friday. The match was played at Columbia University. The Bulls were swept in all three of the singles matches and all six of the doubles matches, although senior Nick Zieziula took Manhattan's Diego Alvarado to the limit at first singles before falling, 7-6, 7-6.

The squad then moved on to Providence to face the Brown Bears. UB fell to its Ivy League opposition, 6-1. It was the second match of the day for Brown, which defeated Boston College by an identical 6-1 margin on Saturday morning.

UB's lone win was at second singles as sophomore Mike Rockman needed a tiebreaker to down Richard Moss. Rockman dropped the opening set, 7-6, but rallied to tie the match with a 6-1 win in the second set and send the match into a tiebreaker. In the 10-point tiebreaker, Rockman held on to down Moss, 10-5.

UB, now 1-3, will head to the Army Invitational this weekend.