BIG 4 BASKETBALL
UB in final; NU advances
Calvin Betts hit a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line with a half-second left to give the University at Buffalo a 62-60 win over Colorado and send the Bulls on to tonight’s championship game of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
UB will face Colorado State (Radio 1230 AM, 12:30 a. m. Wednesday) in the title game as the Bulls seek their first in-season tournament victory since they won the Pepsi-Iona Classic in the 1994-95 season.
The Bulls led nearly all the way but the Buffaloes twice tied the game in the late going, the final time at 60-all on a driving shot by Dwight Thorne with 12 seconds left.
UB led by as many as 13 in the first half and took a 38-29 advantage into the halftime.
“We decided to go small [four guards plus Betts] on the last possession because we thought it would give us an advantage,” said UB coach Reggie Witherspoon. “We had a lot of options.”
Andy Robinson led the Bulls with 16 points, Betts had 15.
Marcus Walker led five players in double figures with a game-high 26 points as Colorado State (5-8) defeated Vermont, 82-76, in the other semifinal.
In Chattanooga, Tenn., Niagara turned to its inside game in the second half and roared back from a 12-point second half deficit to defeat Murray (Ky.) State, 80-71, in the first round of the Dr Pepper Classic.
Benson Egemonye led Niagara with a career-high 28 points, and made 16 of 18 free throws. The 6-foot-10 senior center from Nigeria had a game-high 12 rebounds as well.
Tyrone Lewis had 21 points for the Purple Eagles. The first of Lewis’ three three-point baskets gave him 1,000 for his career. He is the 10th player in Niagara history to reach 1,000 points in his junior season.
The Purple Eagles (10-2) fired up 20 threepoint shots in the first half, hitting only four, and went into the intermission trailing, 40-33. In the second half, Niagara hit 12 of 20 two-point shots and attempted only eight threes, hitting three.
Niagara will face host Tennessee-Chattanooga tonight (Radio 105.1. 8 p. m.).
Women
Cleveland State (6-6) defeated the University at Buffalo, 75-48, in Cleveland. Jamie Schiebner led the Bulls with 10 points. UB shot only 30 percent (17-55) and was outrebounded, 44-34. . . . Niagara (1-11) turned the ball over 30 times in losing to Iowa State (9-2), 89-39, in the first round of the Cyclone Classic in Ames, Iowa.
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