While most students took off for home to celebrate Thanksgiving, the University at Buffalo men's basketball team took to the hardwood to capture a winning record.
Last Tuesday night the Bulls beat Fairleigh Dickinson at home in storybook fashion. Down by seven with 47 seconds to go, the Bulls came back and tied the game with one second to go on a powerful Mark Bortz dunk off Turner Battle's inbound pass. The Bulls sealed the deal in overtime, 87-84. Saturday night the Bulls soundly defeated Indiana State at HSBC Arena, 92-64.
UB 87, Fairleigh Dickinson 84
At the start of the season UB fans were anticipating big things from their team. Despite some early struggles, the team came through last Tuesday night, mainly behind big efforts from UB's big men.
Against Fairleigh Dickinson (1-3 overall, 0-0 Northeast Conference), UB (1-1 overall, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) scored an 87-84 overtime victory thanks to an alley-oop dunk from senior Mark Bortz with one second remaining in regulation. Bortz's dunk sent the game into overtime off an inbounds pass from senior point guard Turner Battle and highlighted a 7-0 scoring run by the Bulls in the last 47 seconds of the contest.
"I have been playing with Bortz since the summer before our freshman year," said Battle. "This is the fourth year, and when I throw it up high, I know Bortz is going to get to it."
Bortz was not shocked with the outcome of the last-second play either.
"I'm familiar with the play and it's worked before," said Bortz. "I wasn't at all surprised that it worked."
The Bulls outscored the Knights 13-10 in overtime to capture the 87-84 victory in front of a small though boisterous home crowd at Alumni Arena.
"Fairleigh Dickinson played a great game, they shot the ball great," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "I just can't give them enough credit, the way they came in and played very well. By the same token, our guys kept fighting, they kept battling."
The game-tying basket was set up after a UB possession in which Daniel Gilbert was fouled on a three-point shot attempt. Gilbert missed his first free throw, made his second shot and intentionally missed his third free throw. The ball was then knocked out of bounds by a FDU player, returning possession to the Bulls to set up the game-tying basket.
"When it came down to the very last possession that Buffalo scored on, I really should have called a time-out," said Fairleigh Dickinson head coach Tom Green. "I told the team after the game that I take full credit for this loss, I should have called a timeout right there, I knew it was coming, I could see it coming from left field, I was hoping we could handle it properly."
Bortz tied a career-high in scoring, leading all scorers with 24 points on the night. The senior center also grabbed nine rebounds, dished out three assists and threw in two blocks off the bench for the Bulls. Also off the bench for the Bulls, Battle complimented Bortz's efforts, finishing the night with 17 points, nine rebounds and 7 assists. Calvin Cage felt the flow from long range for UB, sinking four threes while shooting 5 for 8 from the field to finish the night with 16 points. Cage also had a solid night defensively for the Bulls, adding five steals in 28 minutes of play.
Gordan Klaiber led Fairleigh Dickinson in scoring, finishing the game with 19 points on an 8-17 shooting performance.
UB 92, Indiana State 64
Riding the momentum gained in Tuesday night's overtime thriller, the Bulls took to the court of HSBC Arena for a game against Indiana State University on Saturday, Nov. 27.
After a quiet start to the 2004-2005 season, pre-season All-MAC honoree Yassin "The Dream" Idbihi finally showed up. Idbihi led the Bulls (2-1 overall, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) to a 92-64 rout over Indiana State (1-2 overall, 0-0 Missouri Valley Conference).
"I was so down on myself. I was in this slump for about a week, even before the UConn game. I was hoping by the UConn game I'd get out of it, but the UConn game was even worse," said Idbihi.
Idbihi started the game out by draining a three pointer to set the tempo, and then followed up with a steal and a lay-up at the other end. UB followed with a 12-0 run early in the game and kept the momentum going.
Idbihi finished with 22 points on the night, just one point shy of his career high, a mark the sophomore set last year as a freshman in the Bulls' home playoff victory against Northern Illinois.
Mario Jordan also picked up his performance after a slow start this season, with 12 points and five steals.
Witherspoon was pleased that Jordan and Idbihi were able to feed off the team's previous win.
"We've said all along that at this level you have to be ready to respond to adversity. It came their way Tuesday and they responded," said Witherspoon.
The Bulls stifled the offense of Indiana State, diving for loose balls and getting their hands in the passing lanes, out-hustling the Sycamores and holding them to just five field goals in the first half of the contest.
For the game, the Bulls shot a tantalizing 57 percent from the floor, as opposed to the 35 percent Indiana State shot.
Gilbert was one of many Bulls who shot well in the game. He chipped in with 15 points on 7 for 8 shooting, but notes that UB's efforts on the defensive side of the ball ultimately propelled the Bulls to this victory.
"Our practices have been really intense and we've been focusing on our defense. We knew we had to step that up and that would flow into our offense," said Gilbert.
Bortz, who was arguably UB's best player through the first two games of the season, leading the team in rebounds for both games and scoring 24 points in the victory against Fairleigh Dickinson, played a big role defensively, splitting time at center with Idbihi and Brian Andre.
Bortz drained a three and followed that up with a monster dunk within the span of just a minute, bringing the crowd to its feet as the Bulls led the Sycamores by 30 points late in the second half.
"It was great to see our guys play with that energy," said Witherspoon. "I think our guys knew that we had to renew our passion and our energy at the defensive end of the floor and for rebounding."
Young players like Wallace Hall and Indiana native Parnell Smith also played a significant role. Hall contributed with six rebounds while Smith, seeing his first action of the season, did not look out of place.
The sophomore forward recorded a new career-high with eight points. He also added four rebounds in seven minutes of action, before fouling out.
Eric Gray and David Moss each scored 16 points to lead the Sycamores.
Buffalo will host Colgate (2-2 overall, 0-0 Patriot League) Wednesday night at Alumni Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
