University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: February 22, 2007

Basketball

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UB 98, Bowling Green 90 (OT)
Detroit 92, UB 84 (OT)

UB pulled off a 98-90 overtime victory over Bowling Green in Alumni Arena on Feb. 13. The Bulls trailed for nearly all of regulation before Yassin Idbihi made a pair of free throws with less than one second remaining to force overtime.

With UB trailing by two in the closing seconds, a jumper by Parnell Smith failed to draw iron and a shot clock violation was called. Bowling Green head coach Dan Dakich, believing the game was over, summoned his team to the locker room. However, after a meeting by the officials, it was agreed that 0.6 seconds should be put back on the clock. Since Bowling Green had left the floor before the game ended, a technical foul was assessed. Idbihi calmly drained the two free throws to send the game to overtime.

The Bulls rolled in the extra session, outscoring the Falcons 21-13.

The bizarre ending overshadowed a monster night by Idbihi, who scored a career-high 28 points and pulled down a career-best 20 rebounds. The senior forward upped his career-scoring total to 1,432 points to surpass Turner Battle (2001-05) for fourth on UB's all-time scoring list.

For the second straight game, UB took a game into overtime. However, this time the Bulls came up on the short end, falling to Detroit, 92-84, in the O'Reilly ESPNU Bracket Buster game in Alumni Arena on Saturday night.

The game was close throughout. After the Bulls took a two-point halftime lead, neither team held more than a six-point advantage the rest of regulation. Eric Moore drained his fifth three-pointer of the night to tie the contest at 77 with 1:04 left. Each team had a possession in the final minute to try to win the game in regulation, but neither could convert and the game went into overtime.

It was all Detroit in the extra session as the Titans opened with a 13-3 run to take a 10-point lead, their largest of the night.

WOMEN'S

Miami (OH) 71, UB 68
Bowling Green 85, UB 44

UB was unable to overcome a 5-for-18 performance from the free-throw line and fell, 71-68, to Miami (OH) on Feb. 14 in Millett Hall.

After trailing by four early in the contest, the Bulls went on a 14-2 run in the first half—capped off by a Stephanie Bennett three-pointer—giving UB an eight-point advantage. After Miami cut the lead to six, junior Heather Turner was fouled and went to the line for two shots. After missing the first, Turner drained the second to become just the third junior in UB women's basketball history to surpass the 1,000-point mark for her career. UB would increase its lead to as many as 10 points before taking an eight-point advantage into the half.

The beginning of the second half belonged to Miami (OH) as it went on a 9-0 run to regain the lead. The Bulls were held without a field goal until the 14:04 mark, and at that point the RedHawks had a five-point lead. UB climbed back, as a few Kourtney Brown baskets and a three-pointer by Rachelle Matthys gave the Bulls the lead again with 7:13 remaining. The UB lead grew to five when Matthys hit another trey.

With UB leading by five with 4:41 remaining, the RedHawks staged a comeback, scoring six points to take the lead. The lead would increase to four, but Brown converted on a three-point play to cut the lead to one. Miami then regained its three-point advantage and UB tried to tie it up with its last shot. Bennett put up a three with three seconds remaining, but was unable to get a clean look at the basket.

On Saturday, the Bulls got a solid performance from sophomore Jamie Schiebner, but it wasn't enough as Bowling Green, ranked 17th in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, defeated UB, 85-44, in Alumni Arena. The loss dropped UB to 8-17 on the season and 3-10 in conference play.

The Falcons led wire-to-wire, although the Bulls tried to hang early with BGSU, which shot 54.4 percent from the field. UB cut the Bowling Green lead to six with 12:29 remaining in the first half, but got no closer. Later in the opening half, BGSU went on a 14-1 run, increasing its lead to 23. A three-pointer by Belinda Gibb at the end of the first left UB trailing by 20 at the break.

The Bulls scored a few baskets early in the second half before Bowling Green went on a 28-4 run and held its biggest lead at 44 with 7:34 remaining in the game. The Bulls' defense held Bowling Green scoreless for nearly six minutes as BGSU didn't find the basket again until the 1:41 mark in the half.

On the offensive end, UB was led by a career-high 17 points from Schiebner, who also led UB on the glass with six rebounds.

Wrestling

UB 22, Binghamton 18

UB ended its five-match losing streak Saturday night, topping the Binghamton Bearcats on their home mat, 22-18. With the win, the Bulls finish the season at 8-7. Senior captain Mark Budd provided the heroics by scoring a technical fall to claim his 100th career win as a Bull.

Junior Mike Ragusa got the ball rolling for the Bulls after Binghamton took a 6-0 lead in the match. Ragusa claimed his first major decision since Dec. 1 over Sam Sirota, 16-7, at 165 pounds. Junior Nate Rock battled tough against Josh Patterson, holding the 7-6 edge as time expired. The win ends a five-match losing streak for Rock.

Senior Ray Lamb scored a 16-3 major decision over Corey Waite to increase the UB lead, 11-6. After having dropped the last two matches to nationally ranked opponents, Lamb finished the year as one of four Buffalo grapplers with 20 wins on the season. Heavyweight junior Jeff Parker returned to the mats after being out of action for four weeks to claim his 20th win of the season over Mike Patterson, 7-4. Redshirt freshman Andrew Stella recorded the match-clinching win at 141 pounds with an 8-4 decision over Brandon Toro-Segarra.

The Bulls will host the MAC Championships, which will begin March 3 in Alumni Arena.

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls prep for MACs with Zips Open

UB tuned up for this weekend's MAC Championships by competing in the Zips Open, with nearly every UB competitor improving on their top marks. There was no team scoring in the meet. The Bulls won four events, with the women taking two and the men also winning a pair.

Freshman Octavia Johnston posted two season-best performances. Johnston won the women's triple jump at 37-1.25 (11.31m), bettering her previous best by nearly four feet and also winning the event by four feet. Johnston also lowered her top time in the 60-meter dash, placing second in 7.75 seconds, one-hundredth off her best of 7.76, and one-hundredth of a second shy of qualifying for the ECAC Championships (7.74).

Senior Sarah Vance continued her dominance in the women's shot put. Vance had a winning throw of 51-6.50 (15.71m) to defeat Akron's Stevi Large, last week's MAC Field Athlete of the Week, by a foot.

On the men's side, senior Roy Richards rolled to another win in his specialty event, the long jump. The UB record holder in the event, Richards won with a leap of 23-10.75 (7.28m), defeating Akron's Johnny Adams by 13 inches. Richards is the defending MAC and IC4A indoor long jump.

Freshman Kyle Edwards also took home first place honors for the Bulls, winning the men's triple jump with a leap of 44-0.75 (13.43m), tying his season's best mark in the event.

Swimming

WOMEN'S

Bulls place eighth at MAC Championships

UB finished in eighth place at the MAC Championships, held in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Bulls concluded the four-day event with 200 points. Host Eastern Michigan won with 665 points.

UB freshman diver Meili Carpenter had a great day on the one-meter board with a second-place finish. Carpenter, who also finished fifth on the three-meter board, is expected to compete in the 2007 NCAA Zone Diving Championships March 1-3 in Piscataway, N.J.

Senior Kahla Walkinshaw turned in a season-best in the 200-yard butterfly, cruising to a fourth place finish after touching the wall in a time of 2:05.82. She also finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly in a season-best 57.24.

The 400-yard medley relay team also recorded a season-best performance. The foursome of Rachel Sorg, Ashley Schaffert, Walkinshaw and Samantha Palma cruised to a sixth-place finish in a time of 3:54.92.

Tennis

MEN'S

Binghamton 4, UB 3
UB 6, Bucknell 1

UB played well into the night on Saturday, splitting a pair of matches. The Bulls (4-2) knocked off Bucknell, 6-1, but suffered a heartbreaking, 4-3, loss to Binghamton. Both matches were held at St. Bonaventure University.

UB opened play against Bucknell by scoring the doubles point, thanks to a victory by the number-two tandem of Mike Rockman and Yules Hadisubroto. UB's number-three team of Nikesh Singh Panthlia and Octavian Stane also scored a doubles win.

UB scored five of six singles wins over the Bisons, highlighted by Rockman's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Ryan Sandburg at number one and a third-set rally by Singh Panthlia over Jonathan Brenner, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2, in the number-two match. Kirill Kolomytes, Hadisubroto and Stane also scored wins for the Bulls in singles play.

Against Binghamton, UB again won the number two and three doubles matches to gain the early advantage. Rockman and Hadisubroto clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 victory over Jon Bonnet and Pierre Clavel.

Four of the six singles matches against the Bearcats went into third sets, including the number-one and -four matches, which included two tiebreakers each. Panthlia scored a three-set win in the number-two contest by downing Clavel, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Binghamton took a 3-2 lead when Rockman lost to Faisal Mohamed at number one in a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-2 decision, and Hadisubroto fell to Moshe Levy in the number-four match, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (7).

The match ended in dramatic fashion as Stane, playing at number five, opened his contest with Bonnet by scoring a 7-6 first-set tiebreaker to take the lead. However, Stane was unable to build on the momentum and dropped the next two sets, 6-4 and 6-2, closing out the contest.

The Bulls hit the road for another doubleheader Saturday as they travel to Boston to face Boston College and Brown.

Baseball

UB 14, Delaware State 5

UB began the Ron Torgalski era on a high note Saturday, defeating Delaware State, 14-5, at Soldier Field. The victory is the first time UB has won its season-opener since the 2003 season. The remainder of the three-game series with the Hornets was cancelled due to poor weather.

The Bulls scored three runs in the top of the first inning to take the lead. Senior Adam Ruszkowski got the start for the Bulls and pitched three solid innings before getting into trouble in the fourth. Redshirt freshman James Flatley came in to give the Bulls five innings of three-hit relief and pick up his first collegiate win. Flatley struck out five Hornets in his appearance.

The offensive outburst was a team effort, with both Chris Ciesla and Brad Agustin getting three hits on the afternoon. Ciesla also drove in four runs for UB. Rick Oliveri and James Piazza each had two hits for Buffalo.

The 14 runs are the most scored by a UB team on opening day since 1976 when the Bulls put up 15 runs against Iowa.

The Bulls will travel to Nevada to face the Wolfpack in a three-game series this weekend.

Softball

Loyola-Marymount 5, UB 3
Texas-Arlington 4, UB 3
New Mexico State 14, UB 6
UTEP 5, UB 0
Central Michigan 10, UB 1

UB opened its 2007 campaign on Friday at the Troy Cox Classic, hosted by New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M. In the season-opener, the Bulls dropped a hard-fought, 5-3, contest to Loyola-Marymount and in the nightcap, a narrow 4-3 game against University of Texas-Arlington.

Late Saturday evening, the Bulls lost to New Mexico State University, 14-6. Freshman Sharon Barr was perfect from the plate, going 2-for-2 with three RBIs on the night.

The Bulls were upended twice more on Sunday, finishing the tournament with a 0-5 record. Against strong competition, the Bulls fell to the University of Texas-El Paso, 5-0, and to Mid-American Conference foe Central Michigan, 10-1.

Despite not posting any wins on the weekend, the young Bulls squad had an excellent initial showing at the plate, led by Barr's four-hit, five-RBI weekend over the tournament's five games. In addition, Barr was also solid on the mound for the Bulls. The rookie hurler made three appearances on the mound, starting two games and ending the weekend with a 4.15 ERA over 13.0 innings of work.

The Bulls will remain in the Southwest this weekend, traveling to El Paso, Texas, for a tournament at UTEP. UB will face Northern Colorado and the host Miners tomorrow, and Wisconsin and Utah on Saturday. Final round action in the tournament is slated for Sunday.