Max Soria defeated Eastern Michigan's Blake Caudill by major decision Sunday in his final career match at Alumni Arena.
Spectrum File Photo Before the men?s basketball season started, a co-worker and I sat down and predicted the Bulls were going to finish a game below .500 and just 9-9 in the Mid-American Conference. We weren?t being too hard on Buffalo, either. The Bulls had lost three of their starting five to graduation ? including MAC Player of the Year and UB All-time leading scorer Javon McCrea.
Junior guard Mackenzie Loesing and the women?s basketball team defeated
Sophomore guard Shannon Evans and the men?s basketball team went 1-1 this week in conference play.
Freshman guard Lamonte Bearden scored a career-high 23 points in a 72-57 victory over Canisius this past Saturday.
Spectrum File Photo Let?s face it: Last season was the men?s basketball team?s best shot for the foreseeable future to win a Mid-American Conference Championship. The Bulls had all-time leading scorer Javon McCrea.
As the men?s and women?s basketball teams prepare for their 2014-15 campaign, The Spectrum?s sports staff gives its prediction for each team?s record, breakout player and Mid-American Conference Tournament finish. The Spectrum picks freshman guard Lamonte Bearden as the breakout player for the men?s basketball team.Chad Cooper, The Spectrum Men?s basketball predictions Record: 15-16, 9-9 MAC It?s going to be hard for this year?s squad to match the success of last season?s MAC East regular season title and 19 wins.
Sophomore midfielder Russell Cicerone and the men?s soccer team?s season ended Saturday night with a 4-0 loss to Akron. The loss combined with a Bowling Green victory knocked Buffalo
CLEVELAND - With 5.4 seconds left in the game, senior guard Tony Watson received an inbound pass and drove the length of the floor to get a quick basket before time expired. However, as the buzzer sounded, Watson looked up at the scoreboard and realized the game was over and his Bulls (12-20, 7-9 Mid-American Conference) had fallen short of an upset over Kent State (22-8, 9-7 MAC). Although a MAC Championship and a berth into the NCAA Tournament would have been more fitting for Watson, to me, this was an example of the way Watson approached this season. Throughout the season, Watson was asked to accept many different roles.
The men's basketball team had a statement win in its sights: a late three-point lead on the road against a local rival that has tortured the Bulls for years. Buffalo couldn't get a shot off on four straight possessions, as sloppy play led to the squad's demise. Despite their best shooting performance of the season, the Bulls (2-7) could not hold on, turning the ball and the game over to St.
After only scoring 39 points Wednesday night - the lowest offensive output in nearly 10 years - the men's basketball team will try to awaken from its recent slumber as the team takes on a tough foe in St.
Saturday was almost filled with great basketball: St John's won at the Garden on a remarkable how-did-he-not-step-out-of-bounds lay in by senior guard Dwight Hardy; Nebraska topped No.
Only one Mid-American Conference men's basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament this season. Recently, however, there have been rumors that the conference is looking to spice things up, hoping to have two teams get bids in the future. Andy Katz of ESPN reported that Temple University and Western Kentucky may become the 13th and 14th teams of the MAC. Temple is currently in the Atlantic 10 Conference and Western Kentucky competes in the Sun Belt Conference. Both teams are historically successful basketball programs. Still, the addition of these teams remains hearsay at this point. "The topic of expansion is one that the conference and its member institutions and affiliate members will continue to discuss internally," said Ken Mather, assistant commissioner of media and public relations for the MAC. "Any other comment on expansion, number of sports, divisional alignment, etc. would be pure speculation at this point." According to Mather, there are signs that the two teams are interested in the conference, which has 12 members for all sports. Temple is currently an affiliate member for football only. Temple joined the MAC in 2007. Since then, the Owls have brought excitement to the conference: the team tied for first place in the MAC East in '09, and many remember the Bulls' last-second Hail Mary that won Buffalo the game on Sept. 13, 2008 against Temple. The addition of these two teams would create the largest conference in college football and could also help resolve some scheduling conflicts. Currently, the MAC has an uneven amount of teams (13), making scheduling difficult and team distribution between the two divisions uneven. Aside from making the football conference larger, the addition would add depth and skill to the basketball league, too. WKU has been to two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, and Temple is coming off its third-straight Atlantic 10 Tournament championship. The Owls won 29 games this season and were rewarded with a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. If Temple and WKU joined the MAC, this would make the MAC men's basketball regular season more competitive and would also open the doors for Buffalo to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Officals from Temple and WKU did not return phone calls to The Spectrum. Stay with The Spectrum for updates on the possible expansion of the MAC. E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Senior guard Rodney Pierce started the game out with a traveling violation, but after 40 minutes of basketball, he walked out of Alumni Arena with the game-winning shot.
Opponent: Saint Peter's PeacocksRecord: 15-11, 10-6 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Peacocks have now recorded 10 MAAC wins for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
Alumni Arena opened its doors for the Harlem Globetrotters Friday night, and families from throughout the Buffalo-Niagara region flooded its gates. They piled into the stands to watch the zany, often theatrical and always-hilarious athletes put on an unforgettable show. The audience knew it was in for a treat from the start. Before the players even set foot on the floor, an emcee got the crowd involved in a shouting match. One side of the stands screamed, 'Globe' while the other section replied with 'Trotters.' By the time the two teams – The Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington Generals – were ready for warm-ups, Alumni Arena had reached full capacity with over 6,000 fans in attendance. It was a lively crowd consisting of mostly families from around the area. Many parents had seen the Globetrotters when they were younger and wanted to share the show with their children. Troy Mezzio, a 39-year-old father from Cheektowaga, decided to bring his family after seeing an advertisement. 'We heard about the event through a television advertisement,' Mezzio said. 'I grew up with the Globetrotters when I was a kid. We used to watch them on television all of the time, and seeing them live for the first time was great.' His children loved the show, too. His daughter Michelle, 11, loved all of the slam-dunks and his son Daniel, 7, enjoyed all of the props that they used. Whether the Generals' head coach was hypnotizing one of the Globetrotters with his spiraled umbrella, the players were giving the ref an eye exam where he read the letters 'I-M-A-F-O-O-L,' or the athletes were chasing each other around with buckets of water and splashing fans in the front row, the entire night was action packed and full of laughs. Before the game, the Globetrotters honored Bulls great Jim Horn (1951-55), who is the second leading all-time scorer here at Buffalo. After his college days, Horn joined the Harlem Globetrotters and played with them for a number of years. Playing for the Washington Generals was another former Bull, Brian Addison. Addison came in as a transfer from Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY and played at Buffalo for two seasons. The Harlem Globetrotters had an 83-game winning streak on the line and were trailing late in the third quarter. Thanks to some fantastic dunks and lackluster defense by the Generals, the Trotters battled back and came away with a 75-72 victory. After the game, the players stuck around to sign autographs, further pleasing the fans that already had an exciting night. 'I remember going when I was a kid,' said Sandy Stock, 36, of Clarence. 'I figured that my daughters would really enjoy it so I got some tickets and [the Globetrotters] didn't disappoint. I enjoyed all of it and my kids thought it was a really fun show.' Other parents had also seen the Globetrotters when they were younger and wanted to share the experience with their family. 'I saw [the Globetrotters] when I was a little girl,' said Dawn Watson, 40, of Niagara Falls. 'I don't remember where I saw them, but it was somewhere in Buffalo and it was definitely a lot of fun.' Chances are that Watson and Stock saw the Globetrotters at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, or as most used to refer to it, The Aud. The arena was knocked down in 1996, but it held a maximum capacity of 18,000 people and sported many major league events. The parents weren't the only ones who had a good time. '[The performance] was amazing,' said Spencer Watson, 14, of Niagara Falls ON. 'I've never seen anything like it before and I had a great time. Their ball handling was incredible, especially Scooter's.' Many fans came down from Canada to see the show and, according to Dawn Watson, it took more time to find a parking space than to get across the border. 'Getting into America was the easy part,' Watson said. 'It was the parking that was horrible. We were looking for a half-an-hour to find a parking spot.' There weren't too many college students at the event, most likely because it is more of a family outing. Despite the traffic getting onto campus, the fans were all smiles by the end of the night. The Globetrotters grabbed the audience's attention early, and kept fans entertained throughout the night. Whether they were running their infamous three-man weave, dancing to Michael Jackson, or playing football on the basketball court, there was never a dull moment. E-mail: andrew.wiktor@ubspectrum.com
Solutions by The State News
