University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 3, 2005

Basketball

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UB 86, Northern Illinois 80
UB 78, Marshall 65
UB 80, Eastern Michigan 68

The Bulls posted an undefeated week, earning three MAC wins over Northern Illinois, Marshall and Eastern Michigan to raise their record to 13-5 overall and 6-4 in the league.

Five players scored in double-figures for the Bulls in an 86-80 win over Northern Illinois at Alumni Arena on Jan. 25. Mario Jordan led the way with a season-high 19 points as the Bulls defeated the Huskies for the third straight time.

UB opened the second half on an 8-2 scoring run to establish a 59-48 lead with 17:31 remaining. A Calvin Cage three-pointer gave the Bulls a 71-54 lead with 12:44 left in the contest. However, the Huskies refused to go quietly, rattling off 12 unanswered points to cut the lead to 71-66 with 8:09 remaining. UB answered with five straight points, capped by a Roderick Middleton steal and layup, to regain a 10-point advantage and put the game on ice.

UB withstood a hot-shooting Marshall squad to earn a 78-65 victory in Alumni Arena on Jan. 27. The Thundering Herd drained 10 three-pointers in the first 30 minutes of the game. However, UB put the clamps on defensively and kept Marshall off the scoreboard for eight minutes late in the second half to erase a seven-point deficit and pull away for the 13-point victory.

On Saturday, Jason Bird showed why he loves playing at Eastern Michigan. The senior guard, who grew up less than a mile from the EMU Convocation Center, tied a career-high with 20 points to lead the Bulls to an 80-68 win on Saturday afternoon. It was the Bulls' third straight win over a five-day span.

Bird's first of four three-pointers gave the Bulls a 16-7 lead with 13:52 left in the first half. UB seemed to be in cruise control until getting into early foul trouble. The Bulls were whistled for 15 first-half fouls, forcing head coach Reggie Witherspoon to use 12 different players in the opening stanza. Eastern Michigan capitalized by converting 14-of-15 first-half free throws to take a 36-26 lead with 2:53 left in the first half. UB closed the half on an 8-0 scoring run to trail, 36-34, at the half.

The second half belonged to the Bulls. A pair of free throws by Jordan gave the Bulls the lead for good, 42-40, at the 17:20 mark. Back-to-back three-pointers Bird and Daniel Gilbert extended the UB advantage to 48-40 with 15:08 remaining. A triple by Cage gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game, 79-54, with 4:45 left in the game.

WOMEN'S

Toledo 81, UB 60
Ohio 73, UB 69

Freshman Flynn Pyykkonen had a breakout game with a career-high 22 points off the bench, but the Toledo Rockets built a 16-point first-half lead en route to an easy 81-60 win over UB on Jan. 26.

On Saturday, UB battled back from a 21-point second-half deficit to get within two with under a minute to play before time ran out, giving the host Ohio Bobcats a 73-69 win at the Convocation Center in Athens. Sophomore Belinda Gibb had a career day, with highs of 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead the Bulls attack.

The loss, UB's fifth straight, drops the Bulls to 3-15 overall and 1-6 in the Mid-American Conference.

Swimming

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Eastern Michigan 146, UB 80

UB dropped a 146-80 decision to defending MAC champion Eastern Michigann Friday afternoon in Alumni Arena Natatorium. The Bulls are now 3-3 overall and completed their league slate with a 1-3 record.

UB sophomore Luke Adams scored a first-place finish for the Bulls, winning the 200-yard backstroke in 1:56.47 to lead the team.

Also picking up first-place points for the Bulls was senior Jon Yarger with his finish of 4:48.53 in the 500-yard freestyle.

WOMEN'S

Eastern Michigan 155, UB 88
Toledo 164, UB 136

UB closed out the home slate over the weekend with a pair of MAC losses to Eastern Michigan (155-88) on Friday and Toledo (164-136) on Saturday. Even though the Bulls dropped to 3-6 overall and 0-6 in league action, they put forth several strong efforts over the weekend.

In Friday's meet against the Eagles, senior Jennefer Brankovsky scored a pair of individual victories and finished second in another race to lead the Bulls. Brankovsky won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:09.38 and then added the 200-yard butterfly in a winning time of 2:06.82. Brankovsky also finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke, turning in a team- and season-best 2:22.97.

Kahla Walkinshaw was the only other Bull to claim a first-place finish. Walkinshaw won the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:30.55, taking the lead at the midway point of the race and winning by three seconds.

Saturday, UB picked up four individual victories in front of the Senior Day crowd, including two by seniors in their final appearances in home waters.

Brankovsky scored a thrilling come-from-behind win to take the 200-yard freestyle. Brankovsky overtook Toledo's Emily Markovich in the last five yards to touch the wall in first place, finishing in 1:54.61.

Another senior, Tracy Hoover led a UB sweep in the three-meter diving competition as the Bulls took the top four spots. Hoover won the event with a six-dive total of 265.65 points.

Walkinshaw also picked up a win for the Bulls in Saturday's 200-yard butterfly in dramatic fashion. Walkinshaw passed Toledo's Makenzie Manard on the final turn and raced home with a win in 2:07.24, six-hundredths of a second ahead of Manard. Frances Stephenson easily won the 500-yard freestyle for the Bulls, completing the distance in 5:10.50.

Although the home season has concluded for the Bulls, the regular season is far from over. UB will face Bowling Green and Akron at Bowling Green tomorrow. UB's regular-season finale is Feb. 12 at Cornell.

Wrestling

Ohio 20, UB 13

A 3-2 win in overtime by 20th-ranked Joel Weimer against junior Harold Sherrell in the finale turned out to be the difference as Ohio University beat UB, 20-13 in MAC action on Sunday afternoon.

UB will be back in action on Saturday as it travels to Ypsilanti for an afternoon match with MAC foe Eastern Michigan and then goes on to Mt. Pleasant for another MAC matchup with Central Michigan.

Indoor Track and Field

Top marks established at Penn State Meet

UB completed competition Saturday at the Penn State National Meet with several strong marks. There was no team scoring in the meet that featured top programs from throughout the East.

Two Bulls scored second-place finishes to lead the team. Senior Jenny Koeppel was second in the 5,000-meter run in 16:55.18, breaking her old record by 23 seconds. The time also was a personal-best for Koeppel and secured her a spot in the ECAC Championships in March.

Men's sophomore jumper Rayshon Higgins also posted a second-place finish in his event, soaring 47-10 (14.58m) in the triple jump.

UB's women also added four additional ECAC qualifiers in the meet. Stacy Downer was ninth in the 400-meters in 57.03. Jen Jezorski took 10th in the mile in a personal-best 4:58.22. Kelli O'Brien was 11th in the 3,000-meters in 9:56.22 and the 4x400-meter relay squad of Celestine Coney, Patrice Coney, Downer and Jezorski clocked a 3:53.79 to finish 13th overall.

UB's athletes will be at the Syracuse Invitational on Saturday.

Tennis

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Busy weekend at Army Winter Invite

UB completed the Army Winter Invitational with a 9-9 singles record against three teams but was unable to post a doubles victory. The meet included teams from Connecticut, Rutgers, St. Joseph's, Stony Brook, Hartford and host Army, as well as the Bulls. UB played singles matches against Army, Hartford and Rutgers and doubles matches with St. Joseph1s Stony Brook and Hartford.

The Bulls went 4-2 against Hartford, with Nick Zieziula going the distance to defeat Pat Flint at number one. After dropping the first set tiebreaker 12-10, Zieziula rallyed to pick up a 6-4 second set win and then take the super tiebreaker, 11-9. Mike Rockman won at second singles, 7-6 (6), 6-4, over Doruk Baglan. Yules Hadisubroto and Alejandro Galindo also won their matches at fourth and fifth singles, respectively.

UB also split six singles matches with Rutgers, going 3-3 against the Scarlet Knights. Number two Rockman, number four Hadisubroto and number five Galindo all needed third-set super tiebreaker victories in their matches. Rockman knocked off Gordie Milchutsky, 4-6, 6-4, 11-9, while Hadisubroto defeated Jonathan Wanono, 7-6 (5), 1-6,10-8 and Galindo defeated Raphael Goldwaser, 6-7, 6-1, 10-4.

Against the host Black Knights, Ziezuila picked up a super tiebreaker win over John Houghton (6-4, 1-6, 10-6) at number one and Matt Kennedy also earned a super tiebreaker win over Robbie Wald (6-7, 6-4, 10-8) at number six.

The Bulls went winless against both Stony Brook and Hartford in doubles but the number one team of Zieziula and Josh Liederman earned an 8-6 win over St. Joseph's.

UB will open MAC play tomorrow at Western Michigan.