University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 16, 2006

Basketball

MEN'S

Ball State 67, UB 60
UB 73, Central Michigan 59

UB split a pair of contests last week, dropping its fourth straight game, 67-60, to Ball State on Feb. 7 before rebounding with a 73-59 win at Central Michigan on Saturday.

The Bulls were successful in running their offense early and jumped out to a 10-4 lead. Buffalo played mostly zone defense in the first half, which took away inside looks for Ball State. However, the Cardinals knocked down five three-pointers in the first stanza—their fifth trey giving them a 31-25 halftime lead.

Ball State opened the second half by scoring five unanswered points to take an 11-point lead early in the second stanza. A layup by Andy Robinson cut the Ball State lead to 40-35 with 11:03 remaining.

The Bulls whittled the lead to four points on a pair of free throws by Idbihi with 8:42 left in the game. However, Ball State scored seven unanswered points to regain an 11-point advantage. A three-pointer by Parnell Smith cut the Ball State lead to six points with 5:11 remaining, but that was as close as the Bulls got.

UB utilized one of its finest team efforts of the season to defeat Central Michigan, 73-59, at Rose Arena on Saturday to snap the losing skid.

In an effort to shake things up, coach Reggie Witherspoon retooled his starting lineup, with first-time starters Robinson, Eric Moore and Christian Schmidt joining regulars Greg Gamble and Yassin Idbihi.

The Bulls fell behind early, 8-3, before Witherspoon replaced four of the players with a more familiar lineup. UB proceeded to mount a 17-7 scoring run to take a 20-15 lead with 9:36 left in the first half. Calvin Cage hit two of his four first-half three-pointers on consecutive UB possessions to give the Bulls a 35-20 lead with 3:44 remaining in the half. UB led, 39-26, at the half.

The Bulls (16-8, 6-7 MAC) led 47-34 before the Chippewas scored six unanswered points to cut the UB advantage to 47-40 with 11:24 remaining. With the Bulls leading 54-44, Sean Smiley hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the UB lead to 16 points with 7:04 left.

Mario Jordan put the game on ice with a steal and breakaway slam to give the Bulls a 67-52 lead with 3:37 remaining.

WOMEN'S

Central Michigan 58, UB 50
Western Michigan 86, UB 42

The visiting Central Michigan Chippewas used a 12-4 run in the final 3:45 to defeat UB, 58-50, on Feb. 8 in Alumni Arena.

The Chippewas got off to a quick start as they built a 22-8 advantage during the first 10 minutes of the game. The Bulls went on a 14-6 run to end the first half and went into the locker rooms trailing by six. The Bulls fought their way back and a Viorica Badinici jumper at the 3:45 mark of the second half tied the game, 46-46. However, that was the last field goal for the Bulls as Central Michigan went on an 8-0 run and ultimately a 12-4 run, with four UB free throws.

On Saturday, the Bulls fell victim to a 48 percent shooting performance from Western Michigan, dropping an 86-42 contest in University Arena. The Broncos jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they handed the Bulls their 15th loss of the season. The Bulls shot just 30.8 percent from the field, their second lowest total of the season.

Wrestling

Kent State 21, UB 13

Kent State avenged UB's 2005's come-from-behind dual meet, winning six of the first nine matches to clinch a 21-13 win against UB in MAC wrestling action on Friday in the MAC Center.

Senior Kyle Cerminara posted an 11-1 major decision against Ardian Ramadani to cap off the meet, recovering nicely from his first loss of the season against the nation's top-197 pounder, Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan, on Feb. 5.

Senior heavyweight Harold Sherrell gave the Bulls (9-5 overall, 2-3 MAC) an early lead with his 1-0, riding-time point-based win against Jermail Porter. After a UB forfeit, junior Mark Budd posted five third-period points on a reversal and a three-point near fall to clinch a 6-0 win and retie the meet at six.

The Golden Flashes (12-3-1 overall, 2-0-1 MAC) responded to the tie, however, by taking the next three wins to take a 15-6 lead before sophomore Mickey Moran ended the streak by coming from behind in the third period and earning a takedown in sudden-victory to down Jason McGee, 7-5.

The Flashes turned to their wrestlers with the best winning percentages to clinch the match. Both narrowly eeked out wins, with the MAC's top-ranked Aaron Miller beating sophomore Mike Ragusa, 5-1. At 184 pounds, 16th-rankied Alex Camargo posted a narrow, 7-5, win clinched by a takedown with 47 seconds left in the match against senior Garrett Hicks.

The Bulls wrap up their dual meet schedule when they travel to Slippery Rock today for a 7 p.m. match.

Swimming

WOMEN'S

Cornell 163, UB 135

UB stayed close to intrastate rival Cornell in Alumni Arena Natatorium on Saturday, but lost the meet, 163-135, despite scoring its highest point total since late October. The squad bid farewell to the five graduating seniors—Meg Brosch, Jackie English, Jennifer Raimondi, Rachael Rubin and Olga Wojcik—on senior day.

Freshman Rachel Sorg, junior Danielle Gervais, junior Kahla Walkinshaw and English dazzled the home crowd with a stellar performance in the 200-yard medley relay to lead off the meet, finishing two seconds ahead of the second-place Cornell team in a time of 1:52.51.

Sorg continued her winning ways by scoring wins in both the 100-yard backstroke (59.90) and 200-yard backstroke (2:10.87). Walkinshaw also scored gold in the 500-yard freestyle event, placing three seconds ahead of Elissa Kline of Cornell with a time of 5:08.87.

Junior Julie Marcotte scored her fifth consecutive victory in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in a time of 2:28.33. Marcotte also took first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:09.24.

Two UB divers, freshman Megan Stratton and junior Tess Johnson, earned season-best finishes in the three-meter diving competition, scoring valuable points for the Bulls with 219.52 and 180.15 respectively, placing second and third.

The Bulls now turn their attention to the MAC Championships, which will take place Feb. 23-25 in Akron.

Indoor Track and Field

Track teams finish 10th at Penn State Meet

Both of UB's indoor track-and-field teams turned in 10th-place finishes at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup hosted by Penn State University. The UB men scored 25 points in the 13-team meet, while the UB women picked up 31 points among 15 squads. The host Nittany Lions won both team titles.

In the men's meet, UB's horizontal jumpers led the way as Roy Richards won the long jump with a leap of 24-1.75 (7.36m). Rayshon Higgins finished third in the triple jump at 49-5.75 (15.08m). Higgins' leap improved his season best and IC4A qualifying marks by more than 18 inches. Loic Sebuharara also posted a season best in the triple jump at 43-4.50 (13.22m).

In the women's meet, Jen Jezorski broke Christina Keck's 2003 mile record with her second-place finish. Jezorski, who had established an ECAC qualifying mark on the track at the Penn State National Meet, cut six seconds off her time and eight-tenths of a second off the school record to finish in 4:50.20. Later, Jezorski was part of UB's 4x400-meter relay squad that posted an ECAC qualifying time of 3:53.75.

Both squads will compete in the Zips Open tomorrow in Akron.

Tennis

WOMEN'S

Syracuse 6, UB 1
UB 7, Colgate 0

UB split a pair of matches in Central New York over the weekend. Syracuse handed the Bulls their first dual loss of the season, 6-1, on Friday. However, the Bulls rebounded on Saturday to defeat Colgate, 7-0. UB is now 4-1 for the season.

Against Syracuse, UB's lone victory came at second singles as Kristen Ortman rolled past Catherine Zawadzki, 6-2, 6-4. Ortman later scored a super-tiebreaker victory to defeat Colgate's Alex Seaton on Saturday. After taking the first set, 6-4, Ortman dropped the second set in a tiebreaker and then rallied to win the 10-point super-tiebreaker, 10-7, to clinch the victory.

Andreea Novaceanu scored a pair of "double-bagel" victories on Saturday against Colgate. In doubles, she paired with Tina Jacob to defeat Cameron Thaney and Lil Vo, 8-0. She then defeated Lindsay Grossman, 6-0, 6-0, in the third singles match to highlight the weekend.

The Bulls will travel to Pittsburgh on Feb. 25 to take on Duquesne.