Niagara Falls native Greg Gamble had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes of action as the Buffalo men’s basketball team opened the season Saturday night with a 70-62 win at Youngstown State.
Rodney Pierce led the Bulls with 21 points and keyed a pivotal second-half run. Calvin Betts contributed 13 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.
The Bulls shot 42 percent, compared to Youngstown’s 35 percent shooting. They also held a 51-39 edge on the backboards.
Coach Reggie Witherspoon lamented his team’s 15 turnovers and several missed layups, but was content with starting 1-0 for the fourth straight year.
“We’ve got a lot to improve on,” Witherspoon said in a radio interview after the game. “But we’ll take (the win), and we’re not giving it back.”
UB played without last year’s leading scorer, Andy Robinson, who is serving a three-game suspension for violating team rules. Byron Mulkey (Niagara-Wheatfield) played just three minutes, as he has fallen behind Gamble and John Boyer on the point guard depth chart.
The Bulls open with three straight road games, but play locally on Tuesday when they visit Canisius. The Golden Griffins lost 56-46 at Akron on Saturday.
Cayuga CC 74, NCCC 70
Freshmen Queran Walker and Franklin Harris each had 19 points and five assists, but the Trailblazers squandered a late lead in the opening round of the Cayuga Tip-Off Tournament. Leading by one with just over 40 seconds left, Cayuga’s Vance Kelly hit a 3-pointer off a pick-and-roll play to put CCC ahead. Clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed the win.
“The first half really cost us because we should’ve easily been up 10 or 12 points at the half, but we didn’t score in the first three minutes of the game,” NCCC coach Frank Rotundo said. “We still had ourselves in position to win at the end, but we blew it.”
Kelly finished with a game-high 24 points, including 20 in the second half, for CCC (3-2 overall). For NCCC (0-3), which plays Tompkins-Cortland CC in today’s consolation game at noon, Dyrell Dolson (Niagara Catholic) had his third consecutive double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds and Kenmore West graduate Mike Maritato added 10 points and five rebounds in his first collegiate start.
Women’s Basketball
Cayuga CC 85, NCCC 54
Starpoint graduate Jeanette Dumais had 22 points and 15 rebounds for NCCC, but the Trailblazers were beaten in the opening round of the Cayuga Tip-Off Tournament. Taylor Pagano had 12 points, eight rebounds and four steals for NCCC (0-3), while Kari Seabert (Wilson) added eight points and 14 rebounds.
The Trailblazers will play Tompkins-Cortland CC in today’s consolation game.
Cross Country
Niagara wraps up season
The Niagara men’s and women’s cross country teams finished their respective 2008 seasons at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on Saturday, held at New York’s Van Cortlandt Park. The men’s team finished 30th, while the women were 34th.
Mike Trendell led NU, finishing in 35 minutes, 17 seconds on the 10k course, good for 134th. The women’s team was paced by Liz Smyth, who took 197th on the 6k course, in 25:06.
Bulls take 17th and 18th
Also at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, the University at Buffalo men’s team finished 18th, while the UB women were 17th. Mary Veith led the UB women, finishing in 40th place with a time of 22:34.4 on the 6k course.
Sophomore Ryan Bloom led the UB men, finishing in 34th place with a time of 33:00.4 on the 10k course.
Volleyball
Canisius 3, Niagara 1
Freshman setter Michelle James set Niagara’s single-season assists record (1,149) but it wasn’t enough in a 22-25, 25-12, 25-19, 25-22 loss. Niagara wrapped up the year with a 6-24 overall record, and a 4-14 mark in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
“We played hard through a tough season,” coach Susan Clements said. “We have a lot of learning and growing to do, but we have a positive outlook on the program. We are already excited for the spring and to get better for next year.”
Miami 3, Buffalo 0
The Bulls wrapped up the regular season with a road loss to Mid-American Conference-rival Miami (Ohio), 25-16, 25-18, 25-11.
Maria Mezzadri had 10 kills for UB, which will next compete in the MAC Tournament. Sophomore Lindsey Schlegel had 24 assists for UB. Megan Griffin led the RedHawks with 14 kills.
Rowing
UB concludes season
The University at Buffalo rowing team completed its fall season at the Foot of the Charles race in Boston on Saturday. The Bulls had six boats compete. UB’s Varsity Eight boat had the team’s best finish, taking fourth place. In the Varsity Four race, UB’s “A” boat, which included North Tonawanda graduate Britt Marshall, took 13th place.
Wrestling
Stella goes 3-0
Tonawanda native Andrew Stella won three major decisions Saturday as Buffalo defeated Duke, Campbell and Davidson in its first dual-meet action of the season.
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