University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 9, 2006

Basketball

MEN'S

Akron 75, UB 61
Miami (OH) 81, UB 74

UB struggled through a turnover-plagued night in a 75-61 loss to Akron on Feb. 1 in Rhodes Arena.

Akron was able to build a first-half lead, thanks in part to hot shooting from long range. The Zips hit six three-pointers in the first stanza. When the Zips weren't making their shots, they were able to score off the offensive rebound. Akron had nine offensive boards in the first half.

Akron built its lead to 49-31 early in the second half. The Bulls fought back and, thanks to a 10-2 scoring run, cut the lead to 51-41 with 11:19 remaining. With the Bulls trailing 58-48 with 8:08 left, Akron went on an 11-0 scoring run to take a 68-48 lead and pull away for the victory.

Buffalo committed 20 turnovers in the game and Akron was able to turn those turnovers into 28 points.

On Saturday, the Bulls dropped their third straight game, falling to Miami (OH), 81-74, in Alumni Arena. It was only the Bulls' second loss at home this season.

UB (15-7, 5-6 MAC) trailed 26-21 at the half. Backdoor layups and uncontested layups via length-of-the-court passes helped Miami turn its five-point halftime advantage into a 41-27 lead with 13:57 remaining. Yet another layup by Tim Pollitz gave the RedHawks their largest lead of the game at 53-34 with 9:22 left in the game.

Trailing 68-50 with 5:04 remaining, the Bulls refused to give up. UB mounted a 10-1 run, capped by a Roderick Middleton three-pointer, to cut the Miami advantage to nine points with 2:56 remaining. A layup by Sean Smiley cut the lead to 77-71 with 30 seconds remaining. However, that was as close as the Bulls got as Miami was able to convert its free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

The Bulls got a spark from a pair of youngsters, as Smiley and Greg Gamble each notched career-highs in points. Smiley scored 10 points and Gamble tallied 13 points and tied Middleton for team-high honors in rebounding with six.

WOMEN'S

Northern Illinois 81, UB 72 (3 OT)
Ball State 70, UB 56

UB was outscored 11-2 in the third overtime, falling, 81-72, to the Northern Illinois Huskies on Jan. 31 in the longest game in UB history.

The Bulls sent the game into overtime as senior Brooke Meunier hit a layup as time expired.

Junior Viorica Badinici hit a jumper with seven seconds to go in the first overtime to extend the game. The Bulls had a chance to win the game in the second extra period, but Meunier's jumper fell just short and for the first time ever the Bulls entered a third overtime. Foul trouble for UB set in as the Huskies finished the game on a 10-0 run.

While UB managed to shoot a better percentage from the charity stripe, the Bulls failed to go to the line once during the 15 minutes of overtime, opposed to a 14-of-19 performance in overtime for NIU.

On Saturday, host Ball State outscored Buffalo, 42-29, in the second half, en route to a 70-56 victory in Worthen Arena. The loss drops UB to 7-13 on the season and 2-7 in MAC play.

The Bulls kept it close in the first half as junior Belinda Gibb hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Bulls to the locker room down just one. UB came out in the second half and, with a Meunier trey, tied the game at 30. Ball State rattled off five straight points during a 12-3 run to give the Cardinals the lead for good.

UB trailed by as much as 21 points in the second half, but went on a late 9-0 run to cut the lead to 12. However, Ball State hit its foul shots in the end to walk away with the victory.

Wrestling

UB 29, Eastern Michigan 12
Central Michigan 30, UB 3

The Bulls split against Mid-American Conference foes in a pair of home matches last weekend. On Saturday, head coach Jim Beichner earned his 100th coaching victory with a 29-12 win over Eastern Michigan. However, sixth-ranked Central Michigan defeated the Bulls, 30-3, on Sunday in a match that was closer than the score indicates.

After falling behind Eastern Michigan, 12-3, after four matches, the Bulls charged back by winning the final six matches, including the last four with bonus points. The senior quad-captain trio of upperweights clinched the meet after the Bulls held a slim 13-12 advantage by posting two technical falls and one fall.

Sophomore Mike Ragusa gave the Bulls their first lead of the meet after the 174-pound match, posting a dominating 20-8 major decision against Don Funk. Ragusa posted nine takedowns in the match and became the sixth Bulls wrestler to reach 20 wins this season.

Senior Garrett Hicks (184 pounds) pushed the Bulls' lead to six after his three 3-point near fall performance helped him to a 17-1 technical fall against John McClure. Senior Kyle Cerminara (197 pounds) posted a quick fall of Tony Lyssiotis in 1:55 to clinch the Bulls' win.

Senior Harold Sherrell (heavyweight) closed the meet in dominating fashion, posting four 3-point near falls to extend his school single-season record to 29. He won by technical fall against Jake Wood in the first period.

Against Central Michigan, a rabid flurry of action that saw the nation's top-ranked 197-pounder struggling to maintain control as he stretched out of bounds provided 2004 All-American Kyle Cerminara with no points, preventing the upset of Wynn Michalak and completing an afternoon of near misses for the Bulls.

The Chippewas won nine of 10 matches, despite seven coming down to the final seconds, to take the 30-3 MAC dual meet win from the Bulls.

Ragusa got the Bulls' (9-4 overall, 2-2 MAC) lone win with a stellar upset of 13th-ranked Brandon Sinnott.

The bout's feature match between Michalak and Cerminara lived up to its

billing, as both wrestlers felt each other out for the first two periods. Each earned an escape, thanks to starting in down positions, but with a minute left, Michalak took Cerminara to the mat on an explosive move. Cerminara battled valiantly to escape and with 15 seconds left, he looked to have not only escaped, but gotten in position to reverse Michalak before both wrestlers fell out of bounds, with no points awarded. With five seconds remaining, Cerminara did escape, but could not get a takedown, allowing Michalak to sneak away with a 3-2 win.

The Bulls will finish their MAC slate when they head to Kent State tomorrow.

Swimming

MEN'S

Eastern Michigan 123, UB 71

UB dropped a 123-71 decision to defending MAC champion Eastern Michigan Saturday afternoon in EMU's Jones Natatorium. The loss closed the Bulls' regular season at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the MAC.

The Bulls picked up a pair of diving victories from freshman Cassidy Lynch, who returned to the lineup after missing the last three meets due to academics. Lynch scored a 285.10 total for six dives to win the three-meter event. He then posted a 279.75 score on the one-meter board to earn first-place points.

UB also scored a couple of victories after Eastern Michigan (8-1, 4-0 MAC) exhibitioned the final events. Sophomore Leandro Souza took first place in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:19.35. UB's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Kevin Schuster, Luke Adams, Kevin Gatley and Dave Harris also won their event in 3:14.66.

The Bulls now head into the postseason. UB will compete in the ECAC Championships in Pittsburgh starting on Feb. 24. The MAC Championships will begin on March 2.

WOMEN'S

Eastern Michigan 125, UB 103

Despite being short-handed in the pool, UB managed to pull close to Eastern Michigan, ranked second by Collegeswimming.com, on Saturday, but ultimately fell to the MAC powerhouse 125-103. The Bulls are 3-8 overall and 0-8 in the MAC.

The Bulls were led by freshman Rachel Sorg and junior Jennifer Skerker, both of whom scored individual-event victories. Sorg claimed a top finish in the 200-yard backstroke, scoring a time of 2:11.71. Skerker scored a time of 5:28.13 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Freshman Megan Stratton won the one-meter diving, scoring a point total of 194.47 in six dives.

The Bulls will return to the Alumni Arena Natatorium to compete in their last home meet of the season at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Cornell.

Indoor Track and Field

Men's relay squad sets record at Akron Open

The Bulls saw action in one of the largest fields of entrants this season as they completed the Akron Open on Saturday. More than 700 athletes and more than 25 men's and women's schools competed in the non-scoring meet.

Highlighting UB's efforts was the men's 4x400-meter relay team, which established a new school record in the event. The UB foursome of Rob McRae, Brian Heim, Paul Riley and Bryan Weinstein finished third among 11 entrants in 3:16.20, breaking the 2003 record by three-tenths of a second and improving on their IC4A qualifying time for this season.

The women's 4x400-meter relay finished second in its race in 3:54.89, a season-best time. The team included Stacy Downer, Desiree Rudloff, Jen Jezorski and Kate Kohout.

Jezorski also finished third in the 32-runner field in the 800-meter run. She clocked a 2:12.81 mark to earn a spot in March's ECAC Championships in the event.

The Bulls will travel to University Park, Pa., for this weekend's Sykes-Sabock Challenge at Penn State.

Tennis

WOMEN'S

UB 7, Cleveland State 0

UB rolled to an easy 7-0 victory over visiting Cleveland State Sunday afternoon at the Village Glen Tennis Center in Williamsville. UB remains perfect with a 3-0 overall record.

The Bulls took the opening doubles point by winning all three contests handily. After trailing 2-1 early, UB's top team of Andreea Novaceanu and Tina Jacob won seven of the next nine games to take an 8-4 win over Sarah Galon and Morgan Ungerott. UB's number two team of Kristen Ortman and Natalie Dean picked up an 8-3 win over Kristin Chamberlain and Lindsay Sellers. The number three duo of Katrin Fischer and Miglena Nenova shut out Jenn Myers and Christine Vogelgesang, 8-0.

In singles play, head coach Kathy Twist juggled her lineup, moving her top four players to different spots on the ladder as UB rolled to straight-set victories in all six matches, not allowing the Vikings to win a second-set game in any of the matches. Ortman and Dean scored "double-bagel" wins over their Cleveland State opponents to lead the rout.

The Bulls will travel to Central New York this weekend with matches against Syracuse tomorrow and Colgate on Saturday. Both matches will be played in Syracuse.