Tourney wide open for Bulls
Published: March 11, 2009, 12:30 am
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A season’s worth of exhaustive experimentation, exhilarating highs and discouraging lows all comes down to this: Can the University at Buffalo, regular-season co-champions of the Mid-American Conference, summon the resolve to link three wins and grab hold of the first NCAA Division I Tournament berth in school history?
There are two ways to assess UB’s finish to the regular season. One might say that, having lost five of their last seven, the Bulls headed into this week’s MAC Tournament wearing a ball and chain. An outright regular-season championship was theirs before the skid unfolded.
Or one might conclude that the Bulls hit Cleveland with momentum, having won two of their last three with the loss coming in overtime. UB had never won at Ohio University before scoring a vital victory at the Convocation Center on March 1. And the Bulls had never swept a season series against Miami (Ohio) before concluding the campaign with Sunday’s rebound from a 13-point halftime deficit to a 70-67 overtime victory.
In between those two wins came a 77-71 OT loss at Kent State, a defeat UB will have to avenge to keep its NCAA hopes alive. The sixth-seeded Golden Flashes (19-13) advanced to a Thursday afternoon quarterfinal date with the Bulls at Cleveland’s Quicken Loan Arena by ousting young but game Northern Illinois, 64-61, in Tuesday’s pre-quarterfinals.
Kent got a big game out of Al Fisher, last year’s MAC Player of the Year, who scored 20 of his team-high 25 points in the first half and sprang for his only two second- half baskets inside the final minutes. The Golden Flashes played without their second-leading scorer, Chris Singletary, who was serving a one-game suspension for throwing a punch in the season finale against Akron. He’ll be back on Thursday.
While Bowling Green and UB shared the regular-season title, casting them as the teams to beat might be conceding too much. The Falcons and Bulls went 11-5 in league play. Kent, Akron and Miami were 10-6.
“I don’t know if there’s a favorite, because I think certain teams play well against certain teams,” said Miami coach Charlie Coles. We have been unable to beat Buffalo or Ohio University, and that’s been our problem. Buffalo, they’ve kind of split except Bowling Green’s beaten them twice. I think it makes for an interesting coffee session in the morning around the MAC.”
It’s been a season of evolution for UB (19-10), as is often the case with coach Reggie Witherspoon’s teams. Freshmen forwards Mitchell Watt and Titus Robinson have emerged to become significant contributors, their advances having relegated senior forward Vadim Fedotov to the bench. Swingman Andy Robinson endured a sporadic senior season that saw his minutes decline before ascending down the stretch. The constants have been guards Greg Gamble and Rodney Pierce, with Pierce named first-team All-MAC Monday while Gamble, who made the transition from small forward to point guard this season, received honorable mention.
Witherspoon has stressed to his players all season that they’re only as good as their intensity. The Bulls reeled off nine straight wins before a Feb. 15 loss at Ball State launched a four-game losing streak in which their focus wavered. They vowed they’ve learned their lesson.
“We’re just ready to get out there,” Gamble said. “I don’t think we’ve ever gone into the MAC Championship with the mind-set that we have now. We’re going in with a new level of determination, a new level of hunger, and just a new focus. It’s a new season. You’re one and done in the tournament and we want to keep playing.”
“The mind-set before had kind of been hoping to win, hoping to get a championship,” Robinson said. “This year we’re not hoping, we’re trying to make it, we’re trying to win.”
Earlier this season it appeared Kent State no longer would be one of the MAC’s tougher outs come tourney time. They left UB’s Alumni Arena 8-10 overall and 1-3 in the MAC after a 64-53 loss on Jan. 21. But the Golden Flashes won eight straight thereafter, beating NCAAbound Morehead State in the BracketBuster and setting up the possibility of an 11th straight 20-win season. A victory over the Bulls would do it.
“Buffalo is a tough matchup,” Kent State coach Geno Ford said. “We’ve played them twice and they’ve had 20 offensive rebounds off us both times. We’re going to have to really come together on the backboard.”
The winner plays either second-seeded Ball State (13-16) or No. 7 Central Michigan (12-18). Meanwhile, should top-seeded Bowling Green (18-12) reach the semifinals it will play Miami (17-12) or Akron (20-12).
bdicesare@buffnews.com
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