COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UB’s win streak ends at Siena
ALBANY — While the University at Buffalo was able to take national No. 2 Connecticut down to the wire in Alumni Arena earlier this month, the Bulls had a little trouble hanging with an NCAA Tournament participant on the road Tuesday night.
The Bulls dropped a 71-60 decision to Siena in the Times Union Center. The Saints, the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions who reached the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament as a No. 13 seed, quickly turned a close game into a rout before 5,716 fans. UB had a two-game winning streak snapped.
Alex Franklin scored six of his 15 points during the final 4:38 of the first half as his layup sparked a 10-0 closing run. The Bulls had pulled to within 23-22 on a jumper by Rodney Pierce (Hutch-Tech) before Franklin’s basket.
The Saints led by 14 three minutes, four seconds into the second half after Ronald Moore’s three-pointer. UB (5-4) didn’t get any closer than nine points the rest of the way as Siena (6-4) led by as many as 16 with 5:05 left.
Edwin Ubiles led the winners with 21 points, while Frankin finished with nine rebounds and missed just two of his nine shots from the floor.
Siena also went 13 for 21 from the foul line compared with UB’s 4-for-4 effort.
Pierce led the Bulls with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting, canning 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. Vadim Fedotov came off the bench to chip in 13 points in 29 minutes as 12 UB players saw action. Calvin Betts added 10 points.
This was just the second time this season the Bulls allowed an opponent to score more than 70 points. Temple achieved the feat in an 83-73 loss in Alumni Arena.
UB returns to action Sunday against Pepperdine in the first round of the Rainbow Classic Tournament in Hawaii.
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