University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 2, 2006

Basketball

MEN'S

UB 76, Bowling Green 73
UB 70, Ohio 51
Kent State 70, UB 52

A pair of victories, including an impressive win over Ohio before a pumped-up, Alumni Arena crowd, highlighted the beginning of the week for UB. However, after defeating Bowling Green, 76-73, and Ohio, 70-51, the Bulls could not hold the momentum and fell at Kent State, 70-52. UB is now 15-5 overall and 5-4 in the Mid-American Conference.

At Bowling Green on Jan. 24, the Bulls were led by the senior backcourt of Calvin Cage and Roderick Middleton. Cage eclipsed the 20-point barrier for the third straight game with a team-high 24 points. Middleton had one of the finest all-around games of his career with 14 points, a career-high 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

Behind a sizzling 66.7 percent shooting performance, the Bulls cruised to a 70-51 win over Ohio on Jan. 26 in Alumni Arena. The Bulls led the game from wire-to-wire in the first meeting between the schools since the 2005 MAC championship game.

UB was led by Yassin Idbihi with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and three steals. Middleton had his second straight big game with 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

But only three days after shooting 66.7 percent—the second best effort in school history—against Ohio, UB shot a season-low 34 percent from the floor and dropped a 70-52 decision to Kent State at the M.A.C. Center.

The Bulls will host Miami (OH) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Alumni Arena.

WOMEN'S

Toledo 57, UB 47
Eastern Michigan 56, UB 41

The visiting Toledo Rockets used a 13-2 run in the first half and built a 12-point halftime lead en route to a 57-47 victory over UB on Jan. 25 in Alumni Arena.

The Bulls got off to an early, 7-1 lead four minutes into the game. But UB went scoreless for the next seven minutes and lost its lead for good. The Rockets used a 10-2 run in the final five minutes of the first half to take a 12-point lead into the locker rooms.

Toledo came out with the first points of the second half. That14-point lead would be the largest of the game, as the Bulls cut the advantage to as little as five on a Barbora Homolov� layup with 7:45 remaining in the game. But that is as close as they came.

On Saturday, the MAC West-leading Eastern Michigan Eagles used a 16-3 run in the middle of the second half to defeat the Bulls, 56-41. The Bulls shot a season-low 27.1 percent from the field and fell to 7-11 on the season and 2-5 in conference play.

Wrestling

UB 25, Ohio 9
UB 49, Delaware State 3
UB 31, Ithaca 9

UB first shook off a curse, then, it went for milestones. The Bulls (8-3 overall, 1-1 MAC) left their mark on the record books during a three-meet sweep at a quad-meet at Alumni Arena on Saturday, beating MAC foe Ohio, 25-9, Delaware State, 49-3 and Ithaca, 31-9.

By beating Ohio (6-7, 1-1 MAC), Buffalo shook off an eight-year drought against the Bobcats by winning eight matches. Junior 157-pounder John Cummings and senior 184-pounder Garrett Hicks each won their 20th matches of the season. Hicks and juniors Mark Budd (133 pounds) and Pat Lloyd (149 pounds) also reached their 60th career victories.

To cap off the meet, senior heavyweight Harold Sherrell, who became just the 13th wrestler in school history to reach 75 career wins with his second win of the day, added his name to the top of the single-season, three-point, near-fall list by posting 10 in his final two matches to give him 20 on the season, passing Bruce Hadsell's (1977-78) and Jim Young's (1974-75) record of 18.

Along the way, four wrestlers—Budd, senior Kyle Cerminara, sophomore Mickey Moran and Sherrell—each won all three of their matches.

The Bulls will hit the mats again on Saturday as they face MAC foe Eastern Michigan at 1 p.m. Head coach Jim Beichner is looking for the 100th dual-meet victory of his 11-year, UB career.

Swimming

MEN'S

St. Bonaventure 142, UB 54

UB dropped a 142-54 decision to non-conference rival St. Bonaventure on Jan. 26 in the Reilly Center Pool.

UB's lone victory in the meet was in the 200-yard backstroke as junior Luke Adams remained undefeated in the event. Adams, who earlier in the week earned the MAC Men's Swimmer and Male Scholar-Athlete of the Week awards, clocked a 1:57.11 showing en route to a one-and-a-half-second victory over St. Bonaventure's Dan Freeland.

The Bulls will return to action on Saturday when they travel to Eastern Michigan for the regular-season finale.

WOMEN'S

Bowling Green 181, UB 119

UB fell to MAC foe Bowling Green, 181-119, Saturday in Alumni Arena Natatorium.

The Falcons took the lead right from the starting gun and never looked back, preventing UB from picking up its first dual-meet win in MAC play this season. UB is 3-7 overall and 0-6 in league action.

In scoring their highest point total in conference play this season, the Bulls managed to come away with many first-place finishes and season highs. Junior Kahla Walkinshaw had another triumphant day in the pool, claiming first-place finishes in both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events. Walkinshaw, who had not competed in the 100-yard butterfly since Dec. 3, hit the wall in 58.59. She then scored a personal career-best and team season-best in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.32.

Other first-place finishers included junior Danielle Gervais in the 100-yard breaststroke and junior Julie Marcotte in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The Bulls will swim in their final road meet of the season on Saturday as they travel to Ypsilanti, Mich., to face off against Eastern Michigan.

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls perform well at Penn State meet

The men's and women's track-and-field teams completed action at the Penn State National Invitational on Saturday with one victory, a second-place finish and three record-setting performances against some of the top schools in the East. There was no team scoring at the meet.

In the men's meet, Roy Richards won the long jump with a leap of 24-1.75 (7.36m). Rayshon Higgins placed second in the triple jump at 47-10.50 (14.59m). The leap improved Higgins' IC4A qualifying mark by an inch and a half.

Both of UB's distance medley relay teams established new school records in their races.

The women's distance medley relay team took second-place in 11:38.35 and earned an ECAC qualifying time. The team of Mary Veith, Stacy Downer, Kate Kohout and Jen Jezorski broke the previous record set at last season's ECAC Championships by more than two seconds. Jezorski and Veith also posted ECAC qualification times in the women's mile. Jezorski clocked a 4:56.44 to finish fifth, while Veith turned in a 5:00.46 showing to place ninth.

The men's distance medley foursome of Chris McClure, Rob McRae, Paul Riley and Dan McKenna finished fourth overall in 9:59.68, establishing an IC4A qualifying mark and dropping the old mark, set last season by five seconds. McRae, Brian Heim, Riley and Bryan Weinstein also improved their ECAC qualifying mark in the 1,600-meter relay in 3:17.50, slicing more than a second off the previous best.

McKenna also set an individual school record with his seventh-place finish in the mile. He finished in 4:09.30, lowering his 2004 record by three seconds and earning a spot in the IC4A meet.

The Bulls will travel to the Akron Invite next Saturday.

Tennis

WOMEN'S

UB 9, Rochester 0

UB opened the spring portion of the schedule with 9-0 shutout of the University of Rochester Sunday in the River Campus Sports Complex. The Bulls are now 2-0 in dual matches this season, which includes a victory over St. Francis (PA) in the fall. Because the match was played against a non-Division I opponent, all results counted individually for the 9-0 margin, instead of the usual seven-point total in Division I play.

All three of UB's doubles teams scored shutout victories over their Yellowjacket opponents, and all six of UB's singles matches also were won in straight sets, including a pair of "double-bagel" victories at the top two spots.

The Bulls will host Cleveland State at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Village Glen Tennis Center, Williamsville.