University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 24, 2005

Basketball

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UB 77, Kent State 66
UB 52, Fresno State 49

UB used a pair of second-half comebacks to pick up victories over Kent State and Fresno State.

UB erased a nine-point halftime deficit to prevail, 77-66, over Kent State in Alumni Arena on Feb. 15, the third time in the last four years that the Bulls defeated the Golden Flashes in Alumni Arena. The Bulls also scored an important road win, 52-49, at Fresno State on Saturday as part of ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday.

Against Kent State, the Bulls got off to a sluggish start and fell behind by as many as 11 points in the first half. While most of the UB players struggled offensively in the first stanza, Turner Battle stepped up his game and scored 18 of the Bulls' 34 first-half points. However, UB trailed 43-34 at the break.

UB outscored Kent State, 15-5, to open the second half, capped by a Calvin Cage three-pointer, to take a 51-48 lead with 12:59 remaining. The lead would seesaw until a half-court pass from Battle found Mario Jordan alone under the basket for a layup to give the Bulls the lead for good at 65-64 with 4:47 remaining. Following a Kent State turnover, Yassin Idbihi drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to extend the UB lead to 68-64 with 3:46 left. The Bulls shot 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the final three minutes to ice the game.

Battle finished the night with a game-high 22 points and tallied five rebounds and five assists. Mark Bortz added 13 points and Cage and Daniel Gilbert each had 12 points. All of Cage's points came in the second half, thanks in part to three three-pointers.

Saturday's game wasn't pretty, but UB outlasted Fresno State, 52-49, at the Safe Mart Center. With the victory, the Bulls (17-7) matched their win total of last season. UB struggled offensively, shooting just 26.9 percent from the floor and was outrebounded, 46-39. However, the Bulls played their patented hard-nosed defense to force 24 turnovers on 15 steals.

Fresno State (14-10) jumped out to an 18-8 lead with 11:04 remaining in the first half. The Bulls answered by going on an 11-0 scoring run, capped by a jumper by Roderick Middleton, to take a 19-18 lead with 7:00 remaining in the first half. After tying the contest at 27, Fresno State closed the half by hitting consecutive three-pointers to take a 33-27 lead at the break.

The Bulls battled back to tie the contest, 42-42, on a jumper by Idbihi with 10:17 remaining. After the teams traded leads, a three-pointer by Middleton gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game, 49-45, with 4:26 left. However, the Bulldogs came back to tie the contest at 49 with 1:43 remaining. The Bulls scored the final three points of the game courtesy of free throws by Battle. A half-court prayer by Fresno State's Dwight O'Neil at the buzzer wasn't answered.

UB was led by Idbihi who had 13 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five steals. Middleton added 11 points and his block of a dunk attempt by O'Neil sparked the Bulls' first-half comeback. Battle was hampered with foul trouble and played only 21 minutes. He finished with six points. Gilbert grabbed seven rebounds and tied a career high with five steals.

UB matched a season-low with only nine turnovers, including only three in the second half.

Saturday's game marked the second straight year that the Bulls have been victorious on Bracket Buster Saturday. Last year, the Bulls topped Indiana State, 64-51.

WOMEN'S

Kent State 76, UB 34
Marshall 66, UB 46

The visiting Kent State Golden Flashes shot 44.4 percent (24-for-54) from the floor and had three players in double figures, led by Lindsay Shearer with a game-high 25 points, to run away with a 76-34 win over UB on Feb. 16 in Alumni Arena.

The Bulls struggled offensively, shooting just 20.4 percent (11-for-54) from the floor in the game and turning the ball over 20 times. The win was the Golden Flashes' 14th straight in the all-time series between the two teams. Kent State remains the only Mid-American Conference team that UB has never beaten.

With Kent State up 12-8 early in the first half, UB sophomore Belinda Gibb hit a pair of free throws and then found freshman Stephanie Bennett for a layup that tied the game at 12-12 with 13:20 remaining in the half. The Golden Flashes then closed the door with a 17-0 run over the next six minutes, started by back-to-back three-pointers by Melissa DeGrate. The Bulls finally stopped their scoreless stretch with a jumper by freshman Heather Turner at the 6:57 mark that made the score 29-14. But the Bulls closed the half shooting 0-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-3 from the foul line to give Kent State a 39-15 lead at the break.

The Golden Flashes put together a 15-0 run in the second half, with seven points coming from Shearer, to further blow the game open. They led by as many as 43 points down the stretch before the 76-34 final.

The Bulls were led by sophomore Viorica Badinici, seeing her first action since Feb. 1, with team highs of nine points and five rebounds. Turner added eight points, five boards and two blocks, and Gibb tied her career high with six assists. The 34 points are a season low for the Bulls and the fewest they have scored in a game since an 82-32 loss at Auburn, ranked 25th in the country at the time, on Dec. 7, 2003.

On Saturday, the Bulls gave the MAC's East Division leader a scare, but in the end the Marshall Thundering Herd pulled away for a convincing 66-46 win over in front of 1,217 fans in the Cam Henderson Center. The win, Marshall's 12th in a row, improved the Thundering Herd's record to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in the league, while Buffalo fell to 4-20 overall and 2-11 in the MAC.

The Bulls turned the ball over on their first four possessions of the game and Marshall quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead, 18-7, midway through the first half. Buffalo then switched to a zone that quieted the Thundering Herd's offense, and back-to-back three-pointers by junior Brooke Meunier started an 8-0 Buffalo run that got the Bulls within three, 18-15, with 8:08 on the clock. Buffalo later closed the half with a 6-0 run while holding Marshall without a bucket for the final five minutes of the half to cut the Herd's lead to one at the break, 26-25.

Sikeetha Shepard-Hall, who scored half of Marshall's points in the first half, continued her scoring in the second with a three-point play and a three-pointer that keyed an 8-0 Marshall run to open the half. The Herd led by 12, 39-27, at the 16:59 mark and by 11, 49-38, with 11:19 to play, but the Bulls would not go away quietly. An 8-2 UB run, started by a three-pointer by senior Allison Bennett and ended by another three-pointer by Meunier, got the Bulls within five, 51-46, with 6:48 remaining in the game. Marshall, however, pulled away with a 15-0 run to end the game, as Buffalo shot 0-for-5 from the floor and 0-for-2 from the foul line while turning the ball over four times before time expired.

Meunier led the Bulls with 16 points, including four three-pointers, and Bennett also reached double figures in scoring with 12 points.

Wrestling

UB 29, Slippery Rock 6

Sophomore Pat Lloyd earned a 9-1 major decision in the first match and UB (3-10 overall) never looked back, winning eight matches as it dominated Slippery Rock University, 29-6, to close out its dual meet season at Alumni Arena on Feb. 17 as the Bulls scored their second straight win.

Lloyd (149 pounds) picked up two takedowns, a penalty point and a riding-time point to post six points in the final stanza to wrap up the win against Jake Zeoli, one of eight Slippery Rock freshmen to compete in the meet.

UB freshman Scott Rendos followed Lloyd's performance with a 4-0 decision against Cory Mancuso. It was Rendos' second dual-meet win of the year and put his season record at 17-22. At 165 pounds, sophomore Jake Blowers posted a five-point flurry in the final minute of the match to take a 5-4 lead, but lost when Garry Price earned an escape and a riding-time point for the Rock.

Freshman Mickey Moran (174 pounds) got UB back on the winning track, posting a 5-3 decision on Zach Brower for his first career dual-meet win. Junior Garrett Hicks (184 pounds) followed with a big 3-0 win against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Champion Charlie Pienaar. Hicks improved to 23-16 on the season with the win.

Junior Harold Sherrell became the fourth UB grappler to reach 20 wins this season when he posted a 12-4 major decision against Andrew Joseph. Sherrell (197 pounds) improved to 20-15 on the year and 7-6 in dual meets with the win.

After Slippery Rock won the heavyweight match, UB closed the match with three straight wins. Sophomore Mark McKnight (125 pounds) scored 11 takedowns to boost him to a 24-10 decision against Chris Clarke. The 20th-ranked grappler in the National Wrestling Coaches Association/Intermat poll finished the regular season 26-12 overall.

Sophomore Mark Budd posted his ninth consecutive win with a 22-7 technical fall against John Marsh. Budd, now 21-14 on the year and 7-6 in dual meets, posted eight takedowns and two near falls in the match. Freshman Dana Gingerich (Spring Grove, PA/DeLone Catholic) closed the match with an 8-2 win against Tony Monroig.

UB has two weeks to prepare for the MAC Championships, which begins on March 4. The Bulls finished fourth at the championships last year, but produced three champions in McKnight, redshirt senior Kyle Cerminara (197 pounds) and current volunteer assistant Ed Pawlak (174 pounds).

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls prep for MAC Championships with Kent State Tune Up

UB concluded the regular season Saturday with the Kent State Tune Up meet. While many of UB's top athletes sat out the non-scoring meet, several other Bulls improved their marks heading into next week's Mid-American Conference Championships.

The performances of the women's weight throwers were one of the highlights of the meet for the Bulls. Senior Sarah Vance finished second in the shot put at 47-10.50 (14.59m), just two inches off her season-best mark. Kent State's Breann Smith won the event at 50-1.75 (15.28m) while UB's Faith Thompson was third at 47-4.25 (14.43m). Vance also improved on her ECAC qualifying distance in the weight throw with a toss of 56-7.25 (17.25m), bettering her previous best by almost two feet, finishing seventh overall. Thompson was third in the weight throw at 60-10 (18.54m).

Kate Kohout was fourth in the 1,000-meters in 3:00.33. Jessica Lister and Carrie Hinners tied for fifth in the pole vault at 10-10.25 (3.31m).

For the UB men, senior middle-distance runner Onile White earned an IC4A qualifying mark in the 1,000-meters. White finished sixth in the race in 2:29.33, bettering his season best by eight seconds.

With the regular season complete, the Bulls head into the postseason campaign. The MAC Championships will be held tomorrow and Saturday at Central Michigan University. The ECAC/IC4A Championships will be held the following weekend in Boston at Northeastern University.

Tennis

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UB 5, Bucknell 2

UB (3-5 overall) picked up a 5-2 non-conference victory over Bucknell Saturday afternoon at the Olean Racquet Club.

Nick Zieziula scored a straight-sets win at first singles to lead the Bulls. Zieziula knocked off Asher Salam, 6-2, 6-4, giving the senior his 64th career singles victory, tying Fery Kasiman (1999-2003) for the most wins in UB's Division I history.

The Bulls also took the lower three singles matches to clinch the win. At fourth singles, Yules Hadisubroto defeated Joe Menezes, 6-4, 6-0. At number five, Matt Kennedy downed Garrett Neff, 6-3, 6-1. Number six Albert Alant beat Matt Pikus, 6-2, 6-0.

The Bulls will be in action next on March 6 at Duquense.