University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: January 17, 2008

Football

Gill’s contract extended

Head football coach Turner Gill has received a contract extension through the 2012 season, which moves the third-year coach’s salary to the top tier of all Mid-American Conference coaches.

Gill, who earned MAC Coach of the Year honors this fall after UB’s finest season in its Division I-A history, originally signed a five-year contract in December 2005. He led Buffalo to a 5-3 record in the MAC in 2007—including a share of the MAC East Division title with a 4-2 record. The five wins overall were the most by the Bulls since moving up to Division I-A in 1999, and was just one of many milestones achieved by the football team this season.

Basketball

MEN’S

Akron 76, UB 68

UB suffered its first home loss of the season, falling to Akron, 76-68, in Alumni Arena Saturday night.

Vadim Fedotov nailed a jumper to put the Bulls ahead, 16-11, with 13:24 left in the first half. However, the Zips rattled off 14 unanswered points to take the lead for good, 25-16. The Bulls trailed 35-29 at the half.

Akron held an 11-point advantage, its largest of the night, with 7:12 left in the game. The Bulls mounted a 10-2 scoring run, capped by an Andy Robinson trey, that cut the Akron lead to 60-57 with 4:24 remaining.

Following a pair of Akron free throws, Greg Gamble hit an acrobatic layup to again cut the deficit to three with 3:32 left. However, the Bulls could get no closer as the Zips iced the game at the free-throw line.

Calvin Betts scored a career-high 17 points and added eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot to lead UB.

UB (6-8, 0-2 MAC) shot 42 percent from the floor, compared to 40 percent for the Zips and out-rebounded Akron, 41-37. However, the Zips held an overwhelming edge at the free-throw line, connecting on 28-of-31 free throw attempts, compared to 5-of-9 shooting for the Bulls.

The Bulls will head back out on the road to play at Bowling Green tonight.

WOMEN’S

UB 62, Miami (OH) 57
UB 55, Akron 51

Junior Jamie Schiebner gave UB a late lead with a fade-away three-pointer as the shot clock expired and UB scored 41 points in the second half to open Mid-American Conference play with a 62-57 victory over Miami (OH) on Jan. 9 in Millett Hall. It was UB’s first victory when trailing at halftime since the 2005-06 season.

The first half was a struggle for both teams, with neither able to find their scoring touch. Miami managed just four points during the first 11 minutes of action, but UB was unable to pull away, scoring just 10 to lead by six. The Bulls managed to take their largest lead of the game in the first half, going up by seven on a fast-break layup from sophomore Dayna Smith at the 3:22 mark. From there, the RedHawks went on a 10-2 run to go into the half up 22-21.

Miami scored the first seven points of the second half, but back-to-back buckets by Schiebner knocked the RedHawk lead down to four. The Bulls cut the Miami lead to two, 37-35, with 11:30 remaining when senior Stephanie Bennett hit two threes in a row. The RedHawks scored the next seven points to take their largest lead of the game at 44-35 with 9:57 to go. UB responded with a 14-2 run over the next three minutes. Freshman Jessica Fortman had four points during that run, including the layup that put UB ahead. The two teams traded the lead a few times before the RedHawks got the advantage with 2:55 left on a layup by Amanda Jackson. Jackson was fouled and completed the three-point play, giving Miami a two-point edge. On UB’s next possession, with the shot clock winding down, Schiebner was able to convert on the fade-away three-pointer to give the Bulls the lead with 1:38 remaining. After Jackson’s shot was blocked by Fortman with 47 seconds left, the Bulls took possession and Schiebner found a wide open Heather Turner, who hit a layup to give UB a three-point lead with 19 seconds left. Miami attempted a game-tying three with eight seconds, but it missed the mark and Fortman got the rebound. Fortman was able to get the ball to sophomore Ashley Zuber, who was fouled with four seconds left. Zuber iced the game with a pair of free throws.

The Bulls shot 52.2 percent from the floor in the second half after shooting just 35.7 percent in the first half.

On Saturday, UB began the second half on an 11-0 run and fought back to defeat the Akron Zips, 55-51, in Rhodes Arena. The Bulls were down by eight at the half, but came back for the second straight game. With the win, UB is 9-6 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. It is UB’s first 2-0 start in the MAC since 2000-01.

The host Zips scored the first eight points of the game and had their largest lead of the game at 14 with a 23-9 lead with 8:03 left in the first half. UB cut the Akron lead to eight at the half—30-22—when freshman Bridgette Kendricks stole an Akron pass and converted the easy layup with five seconds left.

The Bulls came out firing in the second half, going on an 11-0 run over the first 4:20. The game was tied on a jumper from Schiebner and the Bulls took their first lead on a three-pointer by Fortman at the 15:41 mark. UB increased its lead to six on a layup from Kendricks at the 11:11 mark, but a quick 6-0 run by the Zips tied the game at 41-41.

The game was tied for the final time at 44-44 with 5:19 remaining before UB went on a 7-1 run, capped by two Kendricks free throws. Akron cut the UB lead to two with 24 seconds remaining, but Freeman hit two free throws with 18 seconds left to seal the win for the Bulls.

Wrestling

UB 25, Findlay 6

Northern Illinois 25, UB 12

UB split a pair of dual matches on Saturday in DeKalb, Ill. The Bulls defeated Findlay, 25-6, but fell in a MAC dual to Northern Illinois, 25-12. UB now has a 7-4-1 dual-meet record.

In the first dual of the day against Northern Illinois, the Bulls dropped the first three matches and were never able to overcome the deficit. Ryan Needle earned the first win for UB at 149 pounds with a 5-4 decision to cut the NIU lead to 12-3. But the Huskies won the next three matches, increasing their overall lead to 25-6. UB won the final three matches of the dual to make the final score 25-12.

The Bulls rebounded in their second match of the day, defeating Findlay, 25-6. Dan Bishop opened with a major decision victory, 10-1, at 125 pounds. Joe Wilson, Andrew Stella and Needle followed with victories, giving the Bulls a commanding 13-0 lead. After a Findlay victory at 157 pounds, UB won the next four matches by decision. Findlay ended the dual with an overtime victory in the heavyweight bout.

The Bulls will return to action in Alumni Arena tomorrow and Saturday to host the 39th Annual New York State Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships. Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Swimming

MEN’S

Binghamton 144, UB 98

UB fell to nonconference foe Binghamton, 144-98, on Friday afternoon. The Bulls are now 2-2 overall.

For the second time this season, sophomore Michael McDowell set UB records in both the one- and three-meter diving events. In the one-meter competition, McDowell scored 344.79 points for six dives to easily surpass his previous best of 325.88, set in October in a dual meet against Duquesne. McDowell also ran away with the three-meter record in the victory as he scored 365.40 points to better the 356.92 he posted in the Duquesne meet. McDowell won Friday’s one-meter event by more than 70 points and the three-meter competition by nearly 90 points.

Sophomore Connor Vander Zalm was a double-winner in the distance freestyle races. Vander Zalm opened with a win in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:03.10 and completed the sweep with a victory in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:54.34.

Sophomore Andrew Tamchyna won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:56.07.

UB swimmers also scored a pair of narrow win—by less than a tenth of a second. In the 200-yard butterfly, senior Mike Hurst held off Binghamton’s Jason Chen to win in 2:01.78. In the 100-yard freestyle, junior Zach Ruske took the race in 49.22.

The Bulls will travel to local rival Niagara for a match-up with the Purple Eagles at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

WOMEN’S

UB 140, Binghamton 99

Toledo 202, UB 95

UB scored a 140-99 victory over host Binghamton University on Friday afternoon.

The Bulls won 10 of the first 11 events before exhibitioning the final pair en route to the victory. Seven Bulls won single events, with diver Meili Carpenter sweeping both springboard competitions.

The Bulls opened the meet with a victory in the 400-yard medley relay.

Relay team members Rachel Sorg, Jessie Koltz and Meghan Lafferty also won individual races. Sorg took the 200-yard backstroke in 2:16.14. Koltz won the 100-yard freestyle race in 55.12 and Lafferty touched first in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.63.

In the distance freestyle races, UB won all three events. Freshman Jordan Deren took the 200-yard freestyle in 1:59.74, freshman Renae Sharkey won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:17.23 and sophomore Jessica Ballard finished first in the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:41.65.

Sophomore Caitlin Reilly won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.99.

On Saturday, UB dropped a MAC match-up to Toledo, 202-95, in Alumni Arena Natatorium.

Highlighting UB's efforts were a pair of wins each from sophomores Andrea Lehner and Sam Palma.

Lehner broke the UB record in winning the 200-yard backstroke in 2:01.59, shattering the old mark of 2:04.38 set by Alexandra Barerra in the 1995 season. The backstroke mark is the fourth individual record broken by Lehner, who joined the Bulls this season after competing at Maryland last year. Lehner also won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:51.60.

Palma led wire to wire in the 100-yard freestyle, winning the race in 53.59. She also rolled to a victory in the 100-yard butterfly, winning in 57.63.

Carpenter won one event and came in a close second in the other. She took the three-meter competition with a six-dive total of 301.15, but finished second to Toledo's Megan McKinley by a point and a half on the one-meter board.

The Bulls will travel to Niagara to face the Purple Eagles in a non-conference showdown at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Indoor Track and Field

Bulls place second at Akron Quads

UB kicked off the indoor track-and-field season at the Akron Quad on Friday with second-place team finishes in the men’s and women’s competitions. Several UB athletes scored individual wins.

The Bulls finished behind the host Akron Zips on the scoreboard in both the men’s and women’s meets.

The UB men won seven events, with Ezekiel Porter capturing two individual events. Porter won the 60-meter race in 6.89 and the 200-meter dash in 21.59.

Other individual winners included freshmen Brandon Giles, who won the 400-meter dash in 50.55; Jamal Norward, who took first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.59; George Fetchko, who took the shot put with a toss of 16.34m; and Matt Gac, who earned first in the weight throw at 17.44m. The 4x400-meter relay team of Porter, Giles, John Bauman and Brendan Hagerty won the event in 3:22.49.

The UB women won two events and earned points with numerous second-place finishes. Winning events were Patrice Coney, who took the 60-meter hurdles in 8.88, and Caitlin Godin, who won the high jump with a leap of 1.70m.

The Bulls will return to action tomorrow at the Cornell Upstate Challenge in Ithaca.