University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: December 15, 2005

Basketball

MEN'S

UB 66, Liberty 53
UB 62, Rutgers 53

UB received its first-ever vote in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released on Dec. 5. Two victories later that week moved the Bulls to 8-1 and should make more voters take notice. The Bulls went to Lynchburg, Va., to defeat Liberty, 66-53, on Dec. 6 and then returned to a packed Alumni Arena on Saturday where they knocked off Big East foe Rutgers, 62-53.

Against Liberty, UB led the game from wire-to-wire, but needed to play solid defense to hold off the feisty Flames. The Bulls tied a season high with 10 steals and forced 23 turnovers. Andy Robinson came off the bench to lead the UB defensive effort with a career-best five steals.

Parnell Smith led four players in double-figures with 16 points. Calvin Cage added 13 points, including three three-pointers. Yassin Idbihi and Mario Jordan each chipped in 12 points.

"This is a place where a lot of programs are not going to come and play. It's a difficult environment," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We didn't shoot particularly well and when you don't shoot well, defense has got to be a constant for you."

UB shot a season-low 35.7 percent from the floor and pulled down a season-low 27 rebounds. The Bulls did, however, grab 12 offensive boards and scored 15 second-chance points. Idbihi led UB with six rebounds. In addition, the Bulls were able to turn 23 Liberty turnovers into 15 points.

On Saturday, the Bulls gutted out a hard-fought victory over Rutgers for their sixth straight win.

UB was led by Roderick Middleton, who scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Cage, who added 16 points, including four three-pointers.

The Bulls put forth another fine defensive effort as they held their third straight opponent to fewer than 60 points. UB had nine steals, forced 16 turnovers and held Rutgers to 38.9 percent shooting from the field. Cage led the defensive effort with five steals, tying a career high.

UB got an early spark from Smith, who scored all 10 of his points in the first 13 minutes of the game. UB gained a 25-16 advantage with 2:54 left in the first half, thanks to a three-pointer by Idbihi. But the Scarlet Knights closed the half on a 10-2 scoring run to pull to within 27-26 at the half.

Rutgers kept the run rolling early in the second stanza, opening the second half with a 7-0 run to take a 33-27 lead with 17:20 remaining in the game. A three-pointer by Quincy Douby gave the Scarlet Knights a 36-29 lead with 15:25 remaining. However, the Bulls went on a 17-3 scoring run, capped by a Cage trey, to regain a seven-point advantage with 6:28 left in the contest.

Another Cage three-pointer extended the UB lead to 10 points with 3:10 remaining. A Middleton trey, as the shot clock expired, gave the Bulls their largest lead of the night, 59-47, with 48 seconds left in the game.

UB outrebounded Rutgers, 38-31, including 14 offensive boards that produced 21 second-chance points.

"One of the main things that we talked about going into the game was our rebounding and how we were going to have to be extremely tough throughout the game to be able to rebound with this team because they are big and strong," Witherspoon said. "But we didn't want their strength to dictate our effort, our energy and our toughness. We defended the entire game and we rebounded the entire game and that gave us a chance to eventually get into our rhythm offensively."

The Bulls will get some well-deserved rest before they host Elon at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Alumni Arena.

WOMEN'S

UB 53, Youngstown State 40

UB started the second half with a 12-3 run, en route to a 53-40 victory over Youngstown State on Dec. 7 in Alumni Arena. The victory was the Bulls' third in a row—their longest winning streak since they took six in a row during the 2002-03 season. UB bettered its defensive effort, allowing a season-low 40 points, the fewest points allowed since a 61-35 victory over Cornell on Jan. 20, 2003.

The Bulls (3-3) took advantage of their inside game as forward Heather Turner scored a game-high 18 points, while pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds. Her double-double was her first of the season. Brooke Meunier, who was named MAC East Player of the Week prior to the game, also recorded a double-double, with 14 points and 11 boards.

The Bulls were in control for the entire game. They trailed by three in the early moments of the contest, but two foul shots by Meunier at the 15:50 mark gave UB the lead for good. UB shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line in the contest, four from Meunier and four from Turner.

The Bulls can credit their defensive performance to Belinda Gibb, who recorded a game-high four steals and kept pressure on the Penguins for the majority of the night.

UB will take a break during finals week for the student-athletes and not return to action until Sunday when it hosts Northeastern in Alumni Arena. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

Wrestling

Edinboro 20, UB 13

It hasn't happened since 2002-03—Edinboro's Shawn Bunch ended up on the losing end of a wrestling match to someone other than 2005 national champion Travis Lee of Cornell. UB junior 133-pounder Mark Budd earned a sudden-victory, 6-4, decision over Bunch to highlight UB's meet against nationally ranked Edinboro at the War at the Shore on Friday night.

Edinboro did manage six wins as the USA Today/NWCA/InterMat's 19th-ranked Fighting Scots snuck away from the Erie Civic Center with a 20-13 win, even though the Bulls managed two wins against nationally ranked wrestlers.

This is the first time in UB's Division I history that a wrestler has posted a win against a No. 1-ranked wrestler, as Budd improved to 19-3 on the season. He has won 29 of his last 34 matches.

Budd, ranked 14th in the Amateur Wrestling News and W.I.N. magazine polls, fell behind Bunch in the first period when Bunch posted a takedown. But Budd earned an escape to make it 2-1 entering the second period. Bunch earned an early escape in the second period, but Budd responded with a takedown of his own to tie the score at three. Bunch escaped yet again, giving him a 4-3 lead heading into the final two minutes. Budd chose to start in the down position and earned an escape 30 seconds in to tie the score.

In the sudden-victory overtime, Bunch took a shot and Budd countered, taking Bunch to the ground near the edge of the mat. Budd got both arms around Bunch's legs to seal the takedown with 15 seconds left on the clock.

The win is Budd's first against Bunch in four meetings. Bunch beat the UB wrestler three times in 2004-05—twice by 6-4 scores and once bya 6-3 margin.

Sophomore Mickey Moran also posted an impressive win against a top-20 grappler, as he took out the NWCA/InterMat/NWMA's 15th-ranked Deonte Penn, 7-4, at 165 pounds. Moran posted a first-period takedown and then added a reversal and a takedown to grab a 6-2 lead. He held on despite a third-period takedown by Penn in the final period to improve to 17-5.

Senior Kyle Cerminara posted his 20th straight victory with an impressive, 12-4, major decision against Jim Gibson. Cerminara had three takedowns in the first two periods to take a solid 7-2 lead into the last period, but he added two more takedowns and an escape in the final stanza, including a last-second two-pointer, to earn the team four points.

Earlier in the week, Cerminara was named MAC Wrestler of the Week for the second consecutive time.

Senior Harold Sherrell won his third straight 2-0 decision against an Edinboro wrestler, beating Koel Davia by earning an escape in the second period and also earning a riding time point. Sherrell also beat Mike LaBella twice at 197 pounds in 2004-05.

UB will return to the mats at 11 a.m. on Tuesday with a tri-meet with Appalachian State and Mercyhurst in Alumni Arena.