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Sports Recap
Roy Richards of the men's track-and-field team broke his own school record in finishing second against national competition at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.
Sarah Vance of the women's track-and-field team finished third in the shot put at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. Her toss of 51-10.50 (15.81m) was just shy of her school record in the event.
Basketball
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Western Michigan 85, UB 64
UB 80, Northern Illinois 74
For the second straight game, UB ran into a hot-shooting opponent. This time it was Western Michigan, which shot 55.4 percent from the field, including a sizzling 64.5 percent in the second half, to hand the Bulls an 85-64 loss in University Arena on Jan. 31. It was UB's fifth straight loss.
The Bulls had three players score in double-figures, led by Yassin Idbihi, who had 13 points and seven rebounds. Parnell Smith added 12 points and Max Boudreau reached double-digits for the third straight game with 10 points-all in the second half.
Western Michigan led for nearly the entire game. After falling behind by 11 with 3:13 left in the first half, the Bulls went on an 8-2 scoring run, capped by a Calvin Betts layup, to cut the deficit to five points late in the half. The Broncos led 36-29 at the break.
Western Michigan drained seven of its nine three-pointers in the second half to pull away for the victory. Buffalo fared well offensively in the second half, shooting 53.6 percent from the floor. However, turnovers doomed the Bulls again as they coughed up the ball 22 times, leading to 33 points for the Broncos.
Local product Byron Mulkey saw the first action of his career. The freshman guard didn't score, but he did have an assist and two rebounds and didn't turn the ball over in18 minutes.
On Saturday, Idbihi scored a career-high 26 points to help the Bulls defeat Northern Illinois, 80-74, in Alumni Arena. The Bulls used a season-high 80 points to snap a five-game losing streak.
UB (10-12, 2-7 MAC) got a spark from Mulkey. The freshman point guard made his first career start in only his second career game. He finished with 11 points, four assists and a steal in 28 minutes.
It was a tight game throughout, with four ties and 10 lead changes. The Bulls jumped out to a 34-24 lead with 5:14 left in the first half. However, the Huskies closed the half on a 12-3 scoring run to cut the UB lead to 37-36 at the half.
Northern Illinois opened the second half on an 8-2 run to take a five-point lead with 17:20 remaining. With the Huskies ahead, 65-62, with 5:49 on the clock, the Bulls rattled off nine straight points, capped by a Smith layup, to take a 71-65 lead with 1:55 left. The Bulls went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to seal the win.
WOMEN'S
Ball State 59, UB 44
UB could not recover from a first half in which it scored a season-low 14 points as the Ball State Cardinals came away with a 59-44 victory Saturday afternoon in Alumni Arena. The Cardinals scored just 19 points in the first half, but put up 40 points in the second. The loss drops UB to 6-15 on the season and 1-8 in the MAC.
Both teams struggled to get points on the scoreboard in the first half-UB shot just 26.1 percent from the field, while Ball State was a little better, converting on 31 percent from the field. A stingy defense allowed UB to go into the half down by just five, 19-14.
In the second half, the Cardinals' lead grew to 11 with 15:27 in the half before UB went on a 9-0 run to close within two with 12:39 remaining. Four different Bulls scored on the run, which was capped off by a layup from sophomore Dortae Freeman. Ball State's Audrey McDonald ended that run with a three-pointer and UB could get no closer than four for the rest of the game.
Sophomore Jamie Schiebner led the Bulls with 10 points, while junior Heather Turner scored seven points and had a game-high 12 rebounds, going over 600 career rebounds with the performance.
Wrestling
Eastern Michigan 28, UB 10
Central Michigan 35, UB 3
UB headed to Michigan last weekend for the first of two consecutive Mid American Conference matches in a two-day span. Despite a strong 7-0 lead after two matches, the Bulls fell to Eastern Michigan, 28-10. The Bulls handed the Eagles five straight decisions that resulted in 18 unanswered points. The deficit was too much to overcome and Eastern Michigan scored its first conference win of the season.
Redshirt freshman Dan Bishop opened the dual meet with a dominating 12-0 major decision over fellow redshirt freshman Jack Cassedy at 125 pounds. Senior captain Mark Budd continued his trek toward a MAC Championship by earning a 5-2 decision over Chris Jenkins.
Senior Ray Lamb ended the EMU run by claiming his 20th victory of the season with a 11-3 win over John McClure, ranked fourth in the conference at 184 pounds. With the match becoming close once again, redshirt freshman Ricky Scott, ranked third in the conference at 197 pounds, was pinned by EMU's Tony Lyssiotis, ranked fourth in the MAC.
On Sunday, the Bulls suffered their second defeat of the weekend at the hands of nationally sixth-ranked Central Michigan, 35-3. The Bulls battled fatigue after wrestling the night before and took only one match-won by Budd.
The Bulls will host nationally 24th-ranked Kent State tomorrow in their last regular season match in Alumni Arena. Seniors Jake Blowers, Budd, Lamb and Mike Shannon will be honored at Senior Day.
Swimming
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St. Bonaventure 129, UB 114
Freshman diver Michael McDowell set a school record on the one-meter springboard, but it wasn't enough as the Bulls dropped a 129-114 decision to St. Bonaventure on Feb. 1 in Alumni Arena Natatorium in the regular season finale for both teams.
Senior Luke Adams, swimming in his final home dual meet for the Bulls, won two events. Adams took the 200-yard freestyle in a season-best 1:44.19, and later won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:44.24.
Other individual winners for the Bulls included Kevin Schuster in the 50-yard freestyle, Zach Ruske in the 200-yard backstroke and Scott Woster in the 200-yard butterfly.
UB will host the MAC Championships Feb. 22-24 in Alumni Arena Natatorium. Prior to that, the Bulls will compete in their first postseason event on the schedule, the ECAC Championships in Cambridge, Mass., starting Feb. 16.
Indoor Track and Field
Richards breaks long jump record
UB sent squads to weekend track-and-field meets in New York City and Akron, Ohio, last weekend with impressive results at both venues, highlighted by a record-setting performance by long jumper Roy Richards.
Richards and most of UB's top field athletes competed in the New Balance Collegiate Championships in New York against some of the nation's elite competition. Richards finished second in the men's long jump, breaking his own record by an inch and half, with a leap of 24-11.25 (7.60m). The distance also gave the senior an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Richards also competed in the 60-meter dash, finishing tied for 28th in a field of 76 runners in 6.96 seconds.
Women's weight thrower Sarah Vance had a third-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 51-10.50 (15.81m). Vance also placed 11th in the weight throw at 55-11.25 (17.05m).
Rayshon Higgins had a fifth-place showing in the championship division of the men's triple jump, clearing 50-0 (15.24m) to win his flight and improve on his IC4A qualifying mark by more than 16 inches.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the squad competed at the Akron Invitational. Freshman Eugene Kennedy highlighted the men's performances with a second-place finish in the men's high jump. Kennedy posted a personal-best mark of 6-9 (2.06m) to earn an IC4A qualifying slot. Akron's Ryan Jones was awarded the top spot after he and Kennedy tied after their final attempts at the height. Jones was declared the winner based on fewer attempts needed to clear the height.
Andy Leonard posted a second-place finish in the men's 3,000-meter run in 8:50.18. Dan McKenna was fifth in 8:54.72.
The men's and women's squads will return to action tomorrow and Saturday at Penn State's Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup.
Tennis
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UB 7, Colgate 0
After spotting visiting Colgate a victory in the first doubles match, UB swept the remaining eight matches to defeat the Raiders, 7-0, Sunday in the Village Glen Tennis Center. UB's scheduled match against Duquesne was postponed due to poor weather that prevented the Dukes from making the trip.
UB (3-1) scored the doubles point with a comeback win after dropping the number-one match. UB's top duo of Albert Alant and Kirill Kolomytes fell to Colgate's Chris Innes and Marshall Wheeler, 8-5, for the lone blemish to the Bulls' run.
From there, the number-two duo of Mike Rockman and Yules Hadisubroto scored an 8-3 win over Martin MacIntyre and Michael Yassky to set up the number-three match as the decider.
With the number-three match tied 6-6, the UB team of Nikesh Singh Panthlia and Octavian Stane rallied to take the final two games over Tyler Deck and John Noqueras to score the 8-6 win and give the Bulls their first point.
In singles play, the Bulls wrapped up the victory, quickly scoring the three needed wins.
Kolomytes, a freshman who joined the team at the beginning of the second semester, scored his first collegiate win with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Wheeler in the number-three match to give the Bulls a 2-0 edge.
The Bulls finished off the win as Alant and Singh Panthlia scored victories nearly simultaneously.
The Bulls will be in action next on Feb. 17 with matches at St. Bonaventure against Binghamton and Bucknell.