University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: March 1, 2007

Basketball

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Kent State 68, UB 64
Miami (OH) 80, UB 68

UB nearly pulled off its first ever win at Kent State, but came up just short, losing 68-64, on Feb. 21.

Following a pair of free throws by Yassin Idbihi that made the score 39-37 in favor of Kent State, the Golden Flashes rattled off seven straight points to take a 46-37 lead, their largest of the night, with 12:49 remaining.

After a Julian Sullinger three-pointer with the shot clock expiring put Kent State up, 54-47, freshman walk-on Byron Mulkey hit a three of his own and came up with a steal and a layup to quickly cut the lead to two. However, the Golden Flashes went on another scoring run, this time a 7-1 effort, to re-establish an eight-point lead with 5:44 left.

The Bulls scored six straight points, capped by an Idbihi jumper to whittle the lead to two with 4:10 remaining. Kent State hit a three-pointer with 2:27 left to go back up by six.

With the Golden Flashes leading by five with 36 seconds remaining, Eric Moore hit his fourth trey of the game to slice the lead to 66-64. Darwin Young came up with a steal on Kent State's next possession, but he missed the game-tying layup. The ball, however, remained with the Bulls with 20 seconds on the clock. A three-pointer by Moore that would have given the Bulls the lead rimmed out.

On Saturday, the Bulls played their final road game of the season and dropped an 80-68 decision to Miami (OH).

The Bulls got off to a sluggish start, allowing the RedHawks to jump out to a 23-6 lead. A three-pointer by Moore in the closing seconds of the half cut the Miami lead to 37-25 at the break.

A layup by Eric Pollitz gave Miami its largest lead of the game, 57-35, with 10:58 left. The Bulls battled back and an Idbihi jumper capped a 21-9 run that cut the Miami advantage to 10 with 3:41 left. However, the RedHawks scored 10 straight points to re-establish a 20-point lead.

The Bulls will return home for their final two games of the regular season, beginning with Akron tonight. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The regular season finale against Ohio is at 6 p.m. Sunday.

WOMEN'S

UB 61, Ohio 47
UB 65, Akron 59

UB ended its home schedule on a high note, defeating Ohio, 61-47, Feb. 21 in Alumni Arena. The game was the final home contest for senior Belinda Gibb, who shared game-high honors with 15 points in the contest.

The first half ended tied at 16, with both teams struggling to hit shots. The Bulls hit just 28.6 percent from the floor in the first half, while Ohio hit only 20.8 percent. Gibb was one of the few bright spots in the opening half as she had eight of her points during the first 20 minutes of action.

The Bulls found their shooting touch in the second half, going on a 16-4 Run to break a 27-27 tie. Junior Stephanie Bennett broke the tie with a three pointer at the 8:46 mark of the second half. Jamie Schiebner provided the next four points, while junior Heather Turner also dropped in four during the run. The last Buffalo field goal came from Gibb at the 3:45 mark—UB shot from the foul line the rest of the way, going 16-of-23 from the charity stripe in the final 3:17 of play.

The Bulls led wire-to-wire en route to a 65-59 victory at Akron Saturday. The victory locks up the fifth seed for the Bulls in the MAC East with one more game remaining before the conference tournament. UB improved its record to 10-17 and 5-10 in conference. Both the overall and conference wins mark tie last year's total.

The Bulls took control in the first half by using a 20-8 run over a 10-minute span. UB's largest lead of the opening half was 13 after Barbor� Homolova hit a layup with 1:18 remaining in the opening half. The Bulls ultimately took an 11-point lead into halftime.

In the second half, UB increased its lead to as many as 14 on a layup by Schiebner. From there, Akron staged a comeback and cut the UB lead to as little as two on a few occasions. However, UB never folded and hit its foul shots in the end to earn the victory, its second straight win.

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls post four MAC champions at indoor meet

UB completed its most successful league indoor meet in school history in the MAC Championships held last weekend. The men scored 75 points to finish fourth among six schools, while the women placed sixth with 51 points in the 12-team field. Eastern Michigan won the men's title by two points over Kent State (169-167), while the host, Akron, cruised to the women's title with 136 points.

The Bulls posted four individual titles over the two-day meet with three coming on the final day. Women's league championships were earned by Patrice Coney in the pentathlon and Sarah Vance in the shot put. Men's titles were earned by Reggie Rucker in the 60-meter hurdles and Rayshon Higgins in the triple jump.

Swimming

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UB men complete most successful meet in league history

UB finished in fourth place and recorded the highest point total since joining the Mid-American Conference at the 2007 MAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championship, held in Alumni Arena Natatorium on Saturday. The Bulls compiled 378 points to eclipse the 269 point total that they scored in the 2005 championships and finished fourth for the first time in the MAC meet since joining the conference in 1998. Eastern Michigan won its 26th league title by scoring 1,008.5 points to easily outdistance the rest of the field.

Two Bulls earned second-team All-MAC recognition. Freshman Michael McDowell placed second on the three-meter diving board with a total of 312.80 points, gaining a nod to the all-league team. McDowell set the UB and Alumni Arena Natatorium records with his total score of 338.80 for six dives in Friday's preliminary round. McDowell now holds UB records in the one- and three-meter events.

Sophomore Zach Ruske also earned a spot on the second-team All-MAC squad. Ruske scored a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.59 after posting a lifetime-best time of 1:51.45 in Saturday's preliminary heats. In the 200-yard individual medley, Ruske scored a fourth-place finish in 1:53.87 after reaching the championship round by posting a lifetime-best swim of 1:53.82 in the preliminaries. He also posted a seventh-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke in 52.18 after setting another lifetime best in the heats in 51.96.

The Bulls posted a grand total of 24 lifetime bests in the three-day meet. Freshman Mark Ayers compiled five of his own in sprint and distance freestyle events. Freshman Scott Woster scored four marks, including a pair in the 200-yard buterfly. Ruske and freshman Jordan Matthews had three each. Matthews posted two in his 100-yard breaststroke races, culminating with his 59.18 clocking in the championship final.

Tennis

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Boston College 4, UB 2
Brown 6, UB 1

UB began a two-match, two-city swing through New England on Saturday with a 4-2 loss to Boston College. The Bulls then traveled south to Providence, R.I. to face Brown. The 57th-ranked Bears defeated the Bulls, 6-1.

Freshman Kirill Kolomytes provided the offense for the Bulls against Boston College, scoring doubles and singles wins. Kolomytes paired with Yules Hadisubroto to defeat Sam Wagner and Soma Kesthely, 8-6, and help the Bulls to claim the doubles point. Kolomytes also downed Wagner, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in the number three singles match for UB's other point.

In the matchup with Brown, UB scored a doubles win but was unable to clinch the point. The number-three tandem of Mike Rockman and Albert Alant scored an 8-4 win over Noah Gardner and Joe Scott. However, Brown pulled out the point with wins in the number one and two matches.

UB's lone win in the singles matches was at number five as Yules Hadisubroto needed a tiebreaker to down Scott, 9-8 (5).

Each of the top three matches—Rockman at number one, Nikesh Singh Panthlia at number two and Kolomytes at number three—were decided in three sets.

The Bulls will travel to Stony Brook and Cornell for matches this weekend.

WOMEN'S

UB 7, Duquesne 0

UB rolled to a 7-0 victory over visiting Duquesne on Saturday to improve its record to 5-0.

The Bulls swept all three doubles matches, with the number-three duo of Smaranda Stan and Katrin Fischer rallying from a 4-2 deficit to win the next six games and clinch the doubles point in a 8-2 victory over Andrea Sailer and Alex Albano. UB's number-two team of Natalie Dean and Tina Jacob needed a tiebreaker to down Johanna Bezjak and Rachel McGowan 8-7 (5).

In singles action, UB rolled to six wins with freshman Denise Harijanto, playing her first match at number one, scoring an easy 6-0, 6-2 win over Bezjak. Miglena Nenova, at number two, also cruised with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jacqueline Hughes, and tied Kristen Ortman's all-time singles victory record at 59. Dean, Stan, Jacob and Diana Toia also won singles contests.

The Bulls will travel to Central New York this weekend for matches against Colgate and Cornell.

Baseball

Nevada 13, UB 3; Nevada 6, UB 2

UB dropped two games against Nevada last week in Reno, falling 13-3 on Friday afternoon and 6-2 on Saturday.

UB got off to a great start on Friday, scoring three runs in the top of the third to take an early lead. The Bulls began with a one-out double from freshman Adam Skonieczki, who advanced to third on a single by Mike Folli and scored on the next play as Nick Walczak singled through the left side. After a walk that advanced both Folli and Walczak, Jacob Rosenbeck drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. UB scored its third run on a balk by the Nevada pitcher.

The Wolf Pack scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good. Nevada added runs in each of the last five innings.

On Saturday, the Bulls attempted to stage a comeback after falling 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning. UB got on the board with a run in the second inning when James Piazza hit a single down the right field line and drove in Eric Flynn from second base.

UB got even closer in the fourth inning when Charlie Karstdet scored on a ground out, putting the Bulls within one run at 3-2. From there, Nevada scored two runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh.

Snow forced the cancellation of Sunday's game. The Bulls will travel to Marshall for a four-game series this weekend.

Softball

Northern Colorado 12, UB 4
UTEP 21, UB 1
Wisconsin 13, UB 4
Utah 9, UB 5
UB defeated Northern Colorado, by forfeit
Utah 10, UB 1

UB dropped five games in the University of Texas-El Paso tournament last weekend, but earned a victory, by forfeit, against Northern Colorado.

In the opening game against Northern Colorado on Friday, the Bears got on the board in the bottom of the first, but the Bulls eventually tied the game in the top of the second when Mary Russell singled to left-center to score freshman Katie Ivancich. UB got on the board again in the top of the third, scoring a run on an Erin Zilka double, and later scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth when Russell drew a bases-loaded walk and Colleen Greene singles to center field.

Northern Colorado, however, rallied to place the game out of reach for the Bulls, scoring five runs—three unearned—in the bottom of the fifth. Northern Colorado scored three more in the bottom of the sixth to take the 12-4 victory.

The nightcap on Friday provided a rematch with the Miners, with the Bulls looking to avenge a 5-0 loss to UTEP last weekend at the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. Unfortunately, UB was unable to pull out a victory, falling to the Miners 21-1.

UTEP struck early and often, and was already ahead, 8-0, when the Bulls scored their first and only run of the game in the bottom of the second inning when Ivancich drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a passed ball. The Bulls gathered only two hits as a team, including one from Russell and Greene.

The Bulls lost two games in tournament action on Saturday, falling 13-4 to Wisconsin and 9-5 to Utah.

The Bulls managed to make it into the championship bracket of the tournament late Saturday night, thanks to a Northern Colorado forfeit.

Trailing 12-8 heading into the seventh inning, the Bulls recorded their first win of the season when a Northern Colorado player was ejected from the game and the Bears were unable to replace her, therefore awarding UB the automatic victory.

In Sunday's championship round of action, the fifth-seeded Bulls faced top-seeded Utah in the tournament's single-elimination round of play. UB suffered a 10-1 setback at the hands of the Utes, squashing the chance of subsequent competition.

The Bulls will enjoy a weekend off before heading to the Florida State Invitational in Tallahassee. UB will face nationally ranked Georgia on March 9, with tournament action continuing through March 11.