University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: March 8, 2007

Basketball

MEN'S

Akron 87, UB 69

UB 84, Ohio 65

UB sent its senior class out in style on Sunday night by rolling past Ohio, 84-65, and wrapping up the 10th seed for this week's First Energy Mid-American Conference Tournament. Andy Robinson scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Bulls.

UB (12-18, 4-12 MAC) jumped out to a 21-8 lead and never looked back. Robinson hit four of his career-best five three-pointers in the first half to pace the Bulls. Parnell Smith hit a layup and was fouled with 3:22 left in the first stanza. His free throw gave the Bulls a 37-20 lead-their largest of the half. Smith hit a baseline jumper in the closing seconds of the half to give the Bulls a 43-27 lead at the break.

Ohio (18-12, 9-7 MAC) opened the second half on an 11-6 scoring run to cut the UB advantage to nine points. However, the Bulls turned up the defensive pressure and mounted a 25-7 run of their own, capped by a Robinson breakaway slam to take a 74-47 lead. A steal and layup by Ohio's Stephen King brought the Bobcats to within 14 with 3:07 left. But that was as close as the Bobcats could get as the Bulls sealed the win at the free throw line-making six straight to end the game.

Playing in the final home game of his career, Yassin Idbihi notched his 13th double-double of the season by scoring 18 points and adding 10 rebounds. Fellow senior Smith also tallied a double-double in his final home game by adding 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Although only a freshman, Byron Mulkey played like a senior, tallying seven points, seven rebounds and a career-best 14 assists. He played all 40 minutes.

UB shot 52.5 percent from the floor-its best shooting performance of the season. The Bulls also dominated the glass, outrebounding the Bobcats, 43-20.

Earlier in the week, the Bulls fell to Akron, 87-69, at Alumni Arena.

Idbihi, whose father was in the stands to watch him play for the first time in his collegiate career, led the Bulls with 23 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Smith and Robinson also reached double-figures, scoring 10 points apiece.

The Bulls started off well, making six of their first nine shots and only trailed, 14-13, at the 15:39 mark. However, Akron went on a 22-2 scoring run to take a 36-15 lead and control of the game. Idbihi scored the Bulls' final eight points of the half to cut the deficit to 19 at the break.

The Bulls battled back in the second half and a layup by Smith cut the Akron advantage to 10 with 6:50 remaining. But Akron responded by scoring eight straight points to retake an 18-point lead.

WOMEN'S

Kent State 62, UB 47

Toledo 64, UB 49 (MAC Tournament)

UB's season came to an end on Sunday with a 64-49 loss to Toledo in the first round of the MAC Tournament at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. With the loss, UB finished its season with a 10-19 record.

The two teams played close in the first half. UB took its only lead of the game on back-to-back three pointers by junior Stephanie Bennett with 9:31 remaining in the first half. From there Toledo ended the half on a 17-5 run and take a nine-point advantage into the break.

In the early moments of the second half, it looked like UB would make a run as it held Toledo scoreless for the first four minutes of the half. Sophomore Rachelle Matthys hit a layup to pull UB within four points. However, six quick points from the Rockets gave Toledo a 10-point advantage. The Bulls pulled within six on three separate occasions, but never got any closer. UB was forced to foul to stay in the game, but the Rockets hit their free throws late, converting on 22 of their 33 attempts from the line.

The Bulls ended the regular season with a 62-47 loss to Kent State on Feb. 28 in the M.A.C. Center.

Wrestling

Budd wins second MAC title

For the second consecutive season, senior Mark Budd was crowned conference champion at the Mid-American Conference Championships, held on Sunday in Alumni Arena. Budd is the third grappler in UB history to win two conference titles and has qualified for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, to be held March 15-17 in Detroit.

Central Michigan took top team honors; UB finished sixth.

Budd reached the championship bout at 133-pounds following a first round win over Eastern Michigan's Chris Jenkins and an overtime semifinal win over Central Michigan's Connor Beebe, both by 6-4 margins. In the championship round, the reigning 133-pound champion drew Kent State's Danny Mitcheff, an opponent he defeated, 9-0, in February. This time around, Budd was challenged a bit more with the chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships lingering in the wings for both competitors. The match began with a takedown for Budd, which was immediately thwarted with a Mitcheff escape. An escape gave Budd a 3-1 advantage, as the match would remain close to the end. An escape scored by Mitcheff to start the third period was the last score in the match, with Budd pulling out the tight 3-2 victory. With his championship performance, Budd earned All-MAC First Team honors.

Senior Ray Lamb was the only other Bull to place at the conference tournament, as he earned a spot in the third-place match against Kent State's Eric Chine. Unfortunately for Lamb, the nationally ranked Chine was too much, taking the major decision, 19-6.

Indoor Track and Field

Richards, Vance claim regional titles

Two UB athletes captured regional titles and a total of six individuals gained All-East recognitions as the men's IC4A and women's ECAC Championships concluded last weekend in Boston. The men's IC4A meet was held at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center, while the women's ECAC meet was a short distance away at Northeastern University's Reggie Lewis Center.

The UB women placed 12th among 51 teams, while the UB men scored tied for 15th place among 53 teams.

Roy Richards won his second consecutive IC4A long jump title with a winning leap of 24-9.25 (7.55m). Sarah Vance claimed her first ECAC title with a win in the women's shot put with a throw of 50-9.50 (15.48m).

Men's sprinter Reggie Rucker reached the finals of the 55-meter hurdles and just missed his school record in the final race.

UB's women's pole vaulters scored points, with Jessica Lister finishing third and Carrie Hinners tying for sixth.

The men's 4x800-meter relay squad shattered the school record in its event. The foursome of John Bauman, Dan McKenna, Ryan Zillmann and Josh Durkin turned in a time of 7:42.16, to finish 11th among 21 squads. The time broke the previous UB record, set at Penn State in January, by more than six seconds.

Diving

McDowell, Carpenter compete at zones

Freshman divers Michael McDowell and Meili Carpenter reached the finals of all three diving disciplines over the weekend as the three-day NCAA Zone A Diving Championships concluded on Sunday.

Carpenter scored a fourth-place finish in the women's one-meter competition on Saturday and placed third among five in the women's platform finals on Sunday. She opened the meet on Friday with an 11th-place finish in the three-meter competition.

McDowell secured an eighth-place finish on the men's one-meter board on Friday, finished 14th on the three-meter board on Saturday and finished second among four divers in the men's platform final on Sunday.

Tennis

MEN'S

Stony Brook 4, UB 3

Cornell 4, UB 3

UB dropped both matches of a two-match slate in Ithaca over the weekend by identical 4-3 scores.

In the opening match against Stony Brook on Saturday, the Bulls snagged the doubles point with victories in the number two and three matches. But the Bulls could grab just a pair of singles victories against the Seawolves, with number two Mike Rockman defeating Nihal Advani, 6-3, 6-1, and number four Yules Hadisubroto downing Ilan Shvartz, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 in three sets.

The deciding match was at number three, with UB's Kirill Kolomytes losing to Youssef Fassi-Fehri in three sets.

On Sunday, UB suffered another 4-3 loss, this time to Cornell, that again was decided on the final singles match of day.

In that match, Kolomytes and Kyle Doppelt split the first two sets and Doppelt took the final set in a 9-7 tiebreaker.

The Bulls will travel to Florida next week for several spring break matches.

WOMEN'S

UB 7, Colgate 0

Cornell 6, UB 1

Senior Miglena Nenova netted her 60th career victory to become the school's all-time leader in singles wins as the Bulls defeated Colgate, 7-0, on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, two undefeated teams met at Cornell University, with the Bulls falling from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 6-1 loss to the Big Red. The Bulls are now 6-1 overall while Cornell is 4-0 in dual meet play.

The Bulls' lone point of the day came in singles competition when Denise Harijanto defeated Cornell's Elizabeth Googe, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) in a third-set super-tiebreaker.

The Bulls will head to Florida next week for their annual spring break trip.

Baseball

Marshall 9, UB 8 (10); Marshall 1, UB 0

Marshall 1, UB 0; Marshall 9, UB 3

UB dropped four games to Marshall last weekend. The Bulls came very close to taking the opening two games of the series on Saturday afternoon, but fell just short in each contest. In the opener, Marshall scored a run in the 10th inning to win, 9-8, while the Thundering Herd drove in the only run in the second game, a walk-off single in the seventh inning, to win 1-0.

UB got off to a great start in the opener, scoring all eight of its runs in the first two innings of play. However, the Bulls managed just two hits the rest of the game after the first two innings.

In game two, senior Mike Radanovic picked up the loss, but went 6.1 innings, while allowing just one run. Radanovic allowed just six hits, while striking out two Marshall batters.

On Sunday UB dropped two more games to Marshall. The Bulls (1-6) were downed in the first game by a 1-0 count for the second consecutive game and were outscored 9-3 in the second game, despite striking first in the first inning.

The Bulls will travel to Philadelphia tomorrow, where they will face Temple for a three-game series.