In a rematch of last season’s MAAC Tournament semifinals, the Niagara men’s basketball team was defeated by the Fairfield Stags, 70-48, on Monday at the Arena at Harbor Yard.
Niagara (3-12, 0-3 MAAC) managed to slow down conference-leading Fairfield (10-3, 3-0 MAAC) in the first half by controlling possession, which limited the Stags offensive possessions. The Purple Eagles, however, were unable to take advantage as their season-long offensive struggles continued.
The Stags went on a 16-4 run midway through the first half to build a 23-9 lead with 3:46 left. Niagara finished the half trailing by 16 and with season-lows in points (14) and field goal percentage (16 percent).
Continue reading ‘Niagara Hoops Defeated at Fairfield, 70-48′
The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team closed out non-conference play with an impressive 78-66 win over Cornell at Newman Arena on Monday night. The Bulls shot 53 percent from the field to defeat the three-time defending Ivy League champ and improve to 8-4 on the season.
The Bulls did most of their damage inside of the arc, making 19 of their 25 two-point shots (76 percent).
Early on, the Cornell defense keyed on Zach Filzen and held the Bulls’ leading scorer to four first-half points. Sophomore Tony Watson proved to be a spark off the bench with nine first-half points on three consecutive three-pointers that turned a tie game into 26-17 Buffalo advantage. Watson finished with a career-high 11 points and the Bulls held a 36-27 lead at the break.
Continue reading ‘Bulls Ring in New Year with 78-66 Win at Cornell’
The Buffalo Bills 2010 campaign mercifully came to its conclusion Sunday with a 38-7 drubbing at the hands of the New York Jets. It’s already been rehashed all over the internet that the Bills ran for the bus instead of standing up to fight back against a bunch of Jets backups, so I won’t do a lot of piling on.
I’m not going to nitpick at Buffalo’s 12th loss because frankly, I wanted the Bills to lose. In no way, shape or form did I feel that beating what amounted to a Jets JV squad would be more beneficial than moving up in the draft. As a result of the debacle the Bills will pick third. Had Buffalo won they would’ve fallen to seventh.
Color me happy.
Anyway, here’s a few observations about the game and several more about where the future of this organization may be going.
Continue reading ‘Questions Surround Bills After Season Finale’
We’re journeying today on a series of the best… and worst of Buffalo Sports Daily circa 2010. Kicking things off today is what we deem our five best stories of the past year.
I’d like to assume we’ve had more than five meaningful stories over the past year, but these are the one I both enjoyed writing the most and received (generally speaking) the most positive feedback from.
Before commencing on our pats on the back, it’s definitely worth noting we’re highly conscious of dropping the ball more than a couple of times (but not as many as Stevie Johnson). We fully intend on taking pokes at ourselves multiple times over the coming days, as you’ll see.
Continue reading ‘BSD 2010 Review: Our Five Best Stories’
Here’s a little “Did You Know” to get your Monday morning started. Did you know that if the Super Bowl had commenced two years earlier, Buffalo would have six, not four Super Bowl appearances to their credit?
The very first Super Bowl was played in 1966, matching the champions of the NFL against the AFL. Prior to that each league had their own separate championships. In both 1964 and ‘65 the Bills won the AFL championship.
Had the Super Bowl started two years ago, Buffalo would’ve faced Cleveland in the very first Super Bowl. The following year it would’ve been Buffalo against Green Bay.
Perhaps they would’ve won at least one as well.
While it was a depressing year for football if you’re a fan of the Buffalo Bills, a few native Western New Yorkers made it a memorable season overall. Five former area stars made it to the league as rookies… two of which are quickly becoming household names.
Buffalo-born former Riverside High School star Mike Williams had a superb rookie campaign for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The fourth-round pick had 11 touchdown receptions in his first year; the most by a NFL rookie since Randy Moss grabbed a rookie record 17 with Minnesota in 1998.
Williams finished the season with 65 catches for 964 yards.
It was an equally impressive year for former Williamsville product Rob Gronkowksi. The New England rookie caught 42 passes for 556 yards and 10 touchdowns. The 10 scores are the second most in NFL history by a rookie tight end, behind only Mike Ditka, who had 12 with the Chicago Bears in 1961.
Continue reading ‘Huge Year in NFL For WNY Rookies’
