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Sports Recap
Eric Moore of the men's basketball team scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Bulls to a season-opening 72-69 victory over Canisius.
Mary Veith of the women's cross-country team earned All-Northeast honors with her 18th-place finish at the NCAA Northeast Regionals.
Football
Akron 31, UB 16
Akron quarterback Luke Getsy, the hero of last year's Mid-American Conference Championship game, threw four touchdown passes to lead the Zips to a 31-16 win over UB on Nov. 9.
The Zips started strongly after taking advantage of a miscue on UB's first possession. On the second play from scrimmage, tailback James Starks fumbled, with Akron's John Mackey recovering at the Bulls' 21-yard line.
Akron converted when Getsy hit Jermaine Lindsay on a nine-yard touchdown pass with 11:31 remaining in the first quarter. Akron led 7-0 after the PAT.
The Bulls responded with a drive of their own, moving 67 yards in 10 plays to get on the scoreboard. Starks had four carries for 35 yards and sophomore tight end Robert Yealu had a 22-yard catch that culminated in a 25-yard field goal by senior Adam Tanalski.
The Zips, however, came right back to stretch the lead to 14-3, needing just four plays to travel 69 yards. Getsy connected this time with Merce Poindexter for a 20-yard score with 5:03 remaining in the first quarter.
The Bulls then drove down to the Akron 31-yard line, but quarterback Tony Paoli was stopped short of a first down by a yard on a fourth down play. The Zips converted by driving 73 yards on eight plays with Getsy throwing his third touchdown of the night to flanker David Harvey from 30 yards out.
The Bulls got back into the game on a huge turnover forced by their defense. Junior Kareem Byrom stripped the ball loose from tailback Dennis Kennedy with linebacker Jeff Bublavi recovering at the Zips' 19-yard line.
Five plays later, senior Steven King burst in from one yard out. After Tanalski's PAT the Bulls trailed 21-10 with just over five minutes left in the first half.
A huge turn of events changed things late in the first half. The Bulls survived a long drive by Akron inside their 10-yard line, then held when kicker Jon McClain missed a 24-yard field goal with 1:59 left in the half. However, Paoli was intercepted at the Zips' 48-yard line. Akron took advantage, and McClain kicked a 17-yard field goal to make the halftime score, 24-10 in favor of the Zips.
Neither team could score in the second half until Getsy threw a 77-yard pass to David Harvey with just over nine minutes remaining in the game to put the game away for the Zips. King scored his second touchdown of the day with just 1:52 left in the game to make the final score 31-16.
Earlier in the week, UB junior safety Jesse Imes was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District football team. The team is made up of 25 players from Division I programs from New England, New York and Pennsylvania.
A pharmacy major, Imes sports a 3.49 grade point average. He will now be placed on the national ballot for a chance at garnering Academic All-America honors.
Basketball
MEN'S
UB 72,
Canisius 69
South Florida 77, UB 61
UB pulled out a gutsy 72-69 season-opening victory over Canisius in a rowdy Koessler Center on Friday night.
UB took control early and held a 14-3 lead six minutes into the contest. However, Canisius roared back and took a 28-22 advantage with 7:44 left in the half. The Griffs held the lead for the remainder of the first half until a jumper by Andy Robinson at the first-half buzzer tied the contest at 34.
The lead seesawed the entire second half, with neither team holding an advantage larger than five points. A layup by Greg Gamble with 4:38 remaining gave the Bulls the lead for good at 66-64.
A pair of Yassin Idbihi free throws gave the Bulls a 70-67 lead with 39 seconds left. Canisius cut the lead to one on a layup by Darnell Wilson and after the Bulls missed a pair of free throws, and had the ball, trailing by one with 17 seconds remaining. However, the Griffs never got off a shot. John Boyer came up with a steal with 0.3 seconds left and the freshman walk-on calmly drained a pair of free throws to seal the win for the Bulls.
UB dropped a 77-61 decision to South Florida of the Big East Conference at the Sun Dome on Monday night. A cool shooting night, combined with 25 turnovers, helped the Bulls to their first loss of the season.
The game was tight for the first 20 minutes as the Bulls only trailed, 31-28, at the half. USF extended its lead to 11 points with 9:04 remaining in the game. However, consecutive three-pointers by Calvin Betts and a layup by Parnell quickly cut the South Florida lead to 56-51 with 7:30 remaining. But USF responded by scoring nine unanswered points to regain a 14-point advantage and pulled away for the victory.
UB will head to Eavansville, Ind., for the America's Youth Classic this weekend. The Bulls will face Cleveland State tomorrow, Miami (Fla.) on Saturday and host Evansville on Sunday.
WOMEN'S
Canisius 74, UB 58
The host Canisius Golden Griffins used a 15-5 run in the second half to defeat UB, 74-58, in each team's season opener Friday night in the Koessler Athletic Center. The loss marks the second straight year that UB has fallen to its cross-town rival in the season-opener.
"I think lack of consistency is a pretty good description of what went on tonight," said head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. "I think the game itself is in the statistics-24 turnovers, 11-of-25 from the foul line and numerous missed layups hurt us tonight. If we get a little bit better at those three things then it is a different basketball game."
Volleyball
Western Michigan 3, UB 0
Northern Illinois 3, UB 0
UB concluded the 2006 regular season with losses on the road to the Western Michigan Broncos, 3-0, on Friday night and to the Northern Illinois Huskies, 3-0, on Saturday.
WMU defeated Buffalo, 30-24, 30-21, 30-24 by outhitting the Bulls .280 to .149 in the contest. The Broncos hit for a higher percentage than UB in each game, including a .486 in game two.
On Saturday, the Huskies, who will enter the MAC Championships as the number-two seed and receive a first round bye, defeated UB, 30-23, 30-22, 30-21, and outhit the Bulls .270 to .160 in the contest.
UB ended the regular season with a 14-19 record and a 3-13 finish in the MAC. The Bulls, who are seeded 11th in the conference tournament, will play sixth-seeded Ball State.
Cross Country
Veith earns All-Northeast honors
Sophomore Mary Veith earned All-Northeast honors, finishing 18th in a field of 228 runners at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships held at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
Veith completed the 6K course in 21:56.7, nearly a minute faster than her time at last season's regional race in Boston when she finished 88th in 22:52.2. Senior Andy Leonard was the top men's finisher for the Bulls, conquering the 10K course in 32:57.2 to place 35th overall.
The UB women scored 423 points to finish 15th among 37 squads The UB men earned 603 points to place 22nd among 38 schools.
Wrestling
Bulls finish fifth at Oklahoma Gold Classic
UB amassed 63 team points in Saturday's Oklahoma Gold Classic in Brockport, placing fifth out of eight teams. Oklahoma took top team honors with 143 points.
Senior captain Mark Budd, at 133 pounds, was the lone Bull to claim an individual title, remaining undefeated at 8-0 after two meets.
Also placing at the tournament were junior Mike Ragusa, claiming fourth place at 165 pounds; senior Ray Lamb (fourth at 197 pounds); junior Nate Rock (fifth at 174 pounds); Jeff Parker (fifth at heavyweight); and freshman Andrew Stella (sixth at 141 pounds).
UB will host Princeton in the Bulls' home-opener and first dual meet of the season at 1 p.m. Saturday in Alumni Arena.
Swimming
WOMEN'S
Toledo 157, UB 137
UB narrowly dropped another MAC meet on Saturday, falling to the Toledo Rockets in Toledo by a score of 157-137.
Despite the setback, the Bulls turned in a plethora of stellar performances. Freshman Jessica Ballard claimed first place in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing in a time of 2:10.41. Other winners were fellow newcomers Meili Carpenter and Samantha Palma.
Carpenter won the one-meter diving event with a score of 272.93, while Palma won the 100-yard butterfly, touching the wall in a time of 59.37. Senior Frances Stephenson also tallied a victory on the afternoon, cruising to first place in the 500-yard freestyle event in a time of 5:13.63.
Next up for the Bulls will be a home meet against cross-town rival Canisius at 6 p.m. tomorrow.