EXHIBITION
Makeshift Buffalo stars beat Italians
Ugboga, Rainey lead scoring
Bruno Cerella made a quick crossover move near the top of the key to free himself from a defender then soared to the rim for a dunk. Only one problem, Mark Bortz was blocking his path.
Bortz rejected the shot so hard off the backboard that it didn’t stop shaking for several seconds. The block was followed by a menacing scowl. It may have only been an exhibition basketball game but the tone was clearly established: This wasn’t going to be an easy Monday evening stroll for the Under 22 Italian National Team.
The Buffalo Select All-Stars, a group thrown together on the fly, played tenacious defense throughout the game and defeated the Italians, 62-54, Monday night in front of about 500 at Medaille College. The game was sponsored by the Buffalo Sharks, who begin play in the American Basketball Association in the fall.
The Buffalo team practiced for the first time at 2:30 p. m. Monday at Medaille where coach Rich Jacob put in a few sets from a motion offense and hoped for the best.
“We practiced for maybe 30 minutes,” said Bortz, the former University at Buffalo center. “If there’s a word below ‘shootaround’ that’s what we did. Maybe it was a walkthrough.”
Yet the game was surprisingly competitive. The Buffalo select group was led by Ejike Ugboja with 16 points and nine rebounds while Karl Rainey had 14 points. Jason Rowe, one day after leading his Darling Paints team to the championship in the Gus Macker, had 10 points and seven assists.
“I told the guys on our team, I played in Italy and I knew they would come out tough,” Rowe said. “The advantage was, we’re at home.”
The game was organized through a connection with former Syracuse University forward Roosevelt Bouie who runs Lega Basket USA, an organization that specializes in setting up tryouts for recent college graduates in front of coaches and general managers from European pro teams. Bouie was contacted last December by the Italian national team about playing a series of games this summer in the United States.
Prior to Monday, they played three games at Brockport State against a select team from Syracuse of Division II and III players. Next up is a game against the Canadian Junior National Team at the University of Toronto July 24-25 which is part of a six games in 10 days schedule.
“This is the Italian Junior National Team and all of these players are good,” Bouie said. “These are college age kids who are thinking about playing over here for college. If they want to play here, they’ll have an opportunity.”
In their last game against the Syracuse select team, Italy shot 60 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
“They were up, 24-4,” Bouie said. “They didn’t miss a shot. Everyone came off the bench hitting threes.”
That wasn’t the case Monday. The Buffalo Select team didn’t offer many clean looks and forced 25 turnovers with a swarming man-to-man defense.
“A few years ago, I would have said it’s hard to put together a team so late to try and win,” Bortz said. “But after playing basketball for a while, you realize the game starts with defense.”
•••
Former Canisius College star Brian Dux attended the game and was given a standing ovation and was greeted by players from both teams. Dux is recovering from a car accident that has left him confined to a wheelchair and $1 from each ticket sold Monday will be given to the Brian Dux Fund.
