Bulls win six of eight over break

The UB men's basketball team won six of the eight games they played over winter break, reaching ten overall wins on the season and evening their conference record.

Heading into these games, the Bulls (10-4 overall, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) had their share of problems, including poor shot selection, too many outside shots and not enough ball movement. Buffalo used its time on campus without classes to improve on those problems, and finished with a big home win against Miami of Ohio.

UB 95, Niagara 92 (2OT) at Alumni Arena, Dec. 11

In a thriller that went down to the wire - three times - Buffalo was able to come out on top, despite allowing 33 points to Juan Mendez, including 19 converted free-throws.

The Bulls appeared as though they were playing right to Niagara's strengths, as they continually sent Mendez to the line and took a large number of forced shots from the outside. Buffalo seemed unable to penetrate Niagara's zone defense, but in the end Mark Bortz was able to take control of the Bulls' offense and put in 32 points of his own.

UB scored 48 points in the paint, and had 20 second-chance points. Bortz also led the team with 13 rebounds.

UB 69, Canisius 65 at Koessler Athletic Center, Dec. 18

In yet another close game, the Bulls were able to record their first ever win at Canisius' Koessler Athletic Center.

It took some 11th hour heroics from Mario Jordan, who got an offensive rebound and put back the lay-up as he was being fouled, to put the Bulls ahead by just one point with 13 seconds left on the clock.

He would sink his free throw to give the Bulls a two-point lead, and Battle stole the ensuing inbounds pass and laid it in to give the Bulls a four-point margin of victory.

Battle led the way with a season-high 20 points, while Roderick Middleton grabbed a career-high eight rebounds to lead the Bulls on the boards.

UB 72, Penn State 70 at State College, Pa., Dec. 21

UB relied on more last-minute heroics to defeat the Penn State Nittany Lions, as Battle drove the length of the floor with only seconds remaining in a tied game.

The senior point guard entered the lane and put up a shot with time expiring that ultimately went through the basket to win. That was only Battle's second field goal of the night, as he fell into foul trouble early on, playing only 18 minutes of the contest.

Though Battle only scored five points in the game, he made each one of them count. His first points came on a three-point attempt with just over two and a half minutes remaining, which gave the Bulls their largest lead of the game.

Calvin Cage proved a ready substitute for Battle, however, as the junior poured in 18 points with four treys and four assists on the game.

Bowling Green 95, UB 88 at Anderson Arena, Jan. 2

Buffalo spent its best shooting effort of the entire winter break on a loss to the Falcons of Bowling Green, as they made over 60 percent in the first half, scoring 47 points.

The Bulls were just unable to match the Falcons, who were led by Josh Almanson, a Falcon who scored 26 points and Steven Wright, who scored 20. Cage led the Bulls with a season-high 23 points off the bench.

Battle turned in a stellar effort, scoring 14 points and pitching in 8 assists without a single turnover.

UB 83, Central Michigan 67 at Rose Arena, Jan. 6

In the Bulls' only blowout victory of the break, UB used its momentum at halftime to come out firing on all cylinders and put the game away right at the start of the second half.

Coming out of the locker room, the Bulls had a 17-0 run and the Chippewas were never able to recover from the deficit. Battle scored 22 points to lead the Bulls in their first conference victory of the season.

This was the fourth game in a row that the Bulls shot over 50 percent from the field, and matched with Central Michigan's poor shooting throughout the game, that produced a big victory for the Bulls.

UB 56, Toledo 54 at Alumni Arena, Jan. 9

For the first time in their history, the Bulls defeated the Toledo Rockets.

It was a low-scoring game, as it seemed like neither side could find its respective offensive stroke. UB shot just 9-for-26 in the first half, including a 1-for-6 performance from beyond the arc.

Despite their poor shooting, the Bulls were able to come out on top and defeat the team that knocked them out of the MAC playoffs last year. Buffalo was led by Jordan, who had 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

Akron 74, UB 59 at Rhodes Arena, Jan. 12

The Bulls' cold shooting continued in a disappointing road loss. UB shot just 33 percent from the field and was unable to come back from an early 11-2 run by the Zips in the first half.

With just under four minutes remaining, a Jason Bird hoop was able to bring the lead down to 12 points, but that was the closest the Bulls would get for the entire game, as they went on to lose by 15 points.

Though they led in rebounds by a 48-36 margin, Buffalo was unable to transfer that into points on the other end of the floor and win the game. The Bulls' scoring was hampered by poor selection, as they shot 2-for-16 from beyond the arc.

UB 67, Miami (Ohio) 56 at Alumni Arena, Jan. 15

In a game that featured an early lack of scoring, the Bulls held off the Miami RedHawks.

For the first 10 minutes of the game, it seemed as though the Bulls would actually pitch a shutout, but UB only had a 7-2 lead when Miami finally put its first points on the board.

The Bulls were simply unable to put Miami away, as the RedHawks cut the Buffalo lead to two points just minutes later, and eventually tied the game with less than nine minutes left.

The Blue and White were able to ride a gutsy performance by Battle, who turned in 16 points, and Cage, who added nine. The Bulls did a good job of putting the RedHawks away by shooting an impressive 61.9 percent from the field in the second half, while giving up only three turnovers.

At this point in the season, UB is halfway to the first 20-win season in school history. The Bulls have 13 games left on their schedule, 12 of which are MAC games, which in turn, allows UB a solid chance to justify its first place preseason MAC East Division ranking.