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College
 Buffalo State sophomore guard Jake Simmons was named All-East Region first team by D3hoops.com after helping the Bengals to a 23-7 season and an appearance in the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Tournament.
Simmons led the Bengals and the SUNYAC in scoring, averaging 19.5 points-per-game and became just the 19th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career points, tallying 1,007 in just two seasons. The philosophy major also set a school record hitting 92 3-pointers, and his 159 in two season also broke the school’s career mark. Simmons was a contributor on defense as well, leading the league in steals with 77 and ranked 25th in the nation in that category.
Simmons, who also garnered first team All-SUNYAC honors, will now advance to the All-America ballot. Those honorees will be announced this Saturday during the D3hoops.com championship game broadcast.
 Buffalo State’s Erica Johnson, Justin Allen and Xavier Mateen all raced to individual national titles today at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Capital Center Fieldhouse on the campus of Capital University.
Johnson became the first Buffalo State female to capture a national title, winning the 55-meter dash, breaking her own school record and running the fastest time in Division III this season at 6.97 seconds. Her time also set a new facility record. Allen also blazed his way to a national championship in the 400-meter dash, winning by less than one-hundredth of a second, clocking 48.27 seconds. Mateen also claimed a share of a national title in the men’s 55-meter dash with a DIII season best time of 6.37 seconds. Mateen tied Phillip Jones of Dubuque to the thousandth of a second.
Three Bengals Crowned National Champions at NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships – continue reading…
Jake Simmons (Rochester/School for the Arts) netted 28 points to lift Buffalo State (23-6) to its first “Sweet 16″ appearance since 1996, as the Bengals cruised past Johnson & Wales (21-9), 96-72, in an NCAA Second Round game this evening at the Bradley Center on the campus of Ramapo College.
Buffalo State extended its winning streak to 13 games, and its 23 victories are the most in a season since winning 24 in 1991-92.
Four other Bengals joined Simmons scoring in double-digits, led by Justin Mitchell (Buffalo/Bishop Timon) with 14 points, and he added nine rebounds. Glenroy Carr (New York/Sweet Home) added 13 points and 16 boards. Chris Cartwright (Binghamton/Binghamton) and Norman Simmons (Rochester/East) pitched in 10 points each.
The leading scorer in Division III Lamonte Thomas finished with 26 to lead the Wildcats, playing the entire second half with four fouls. He was averaging 31.4 points entering the game. Louis Ferreras added 14 points and six rebounds for JWU.
Buffalo State Advances To Sweet 16 – continue reading…
Posted on March 3, 2011 by NCCC Press Release
Niagara County Community College’s Head Baseball Coach Matt Clingersmith will hold a press conference Friday, March 4 at 3:30pm in the Athletics lobby for the signing of nine High School Seniors to National Letters of Intent.
In attendance will be RHP-Brandon Bielecki from Clarence High School, SS/RHP Michael Elwood from Clarence High School, RHP-Angelo Harkins from John F. Kennedy High School, OF-Nicholas Kellner from Grand Island High School, OF-John Knauth from Orchard Park High School, 3B-Matthew Krettek from Cortice Secondary School, OF-Matthew Notaro from Williamsville East High School, OF/RHP-Michael Orlowski from Iroquois High School, and RHP-Paul Tronolone from St. Joseph’s High School.
Posted on March 1, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 When the current Canisius senior class set foot on the Buffalo campus four years ago, nearly everyone with any association with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference would have sworn the Griffs would be MAAC champions by the end of their careers.
Well, for the most decorated Canisius recruiting class in last 20 years, their next loss is their last. The Griffs will head to Bridgeport, Conn. this weekend in search of winning three games in three days and grabbing the MAAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
There is some good news. For the first time since 2001, the Griffs played .500 ball in the MAAC and won nine games. For the first time since 1999, they won’t be in the MAAC play-in round on Friday night. They also won 10 home games in a single season for the first time since 1997, but the tournament will obviously not be on their home court.
College Corner: Do Or Die Time For Big Four – continue reading…
Posted on February 28, 2011 by BSD Staff Reports
 For the third time this season, senior Paul Zanette of the Niagara men’s hockey team earned Atlantic Hockey Association Player of the Week honors, as announced by the conference on Monday. Zanette’s latest honor is the ninth time a Niagara player has earned this season, a conference-high.
The Nobleton, Ont. native is sharing AHA Player of the Week honors with Eric Delong from Sacred Heart and Cory Conacher from Canisius. Zanette scored four goals this past weekend against 2011 AHA Regular Season Champion RIT, with two of them coming in Niagara’s 5-2 victory over the Tigers in front of a national TV audience on CBS College Sports. Zanette followed up Friday’s performance by scoring twice more during a 3-3 tie against RIT.
Zanette currently leads the nation in goals (29), goals per game (.85) and is second in the nation in points per game (1.56). This past weekend the senior forward entered Niagara’s 100-Point Club, while becoming just the 10th member of Niagara’s 50-50 Club, with at least 50 career goals and 50 career assists. Zanette is currently three goals behind Ted Cook (2006-07) for most goals in a single-season by a Purple Eagle.
College Trio Captures Player of Week Honors – continue reading…
Posted on February 22, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 Throughout the course of a college basketball season, there are always games considered to be more important than others; at least to media and the fans.
Saturday’s ESPN Bracket Buster contests to UB, Niagara and Canisius seemed to offer one of the most irrelevant games of the year for all three schools.
The pros and cons are far outweighed by the negative appeals. It’s a non-conference game at the end February. It’s a team you know virtually nothing about, not to mention not needing to win in the long run.
Most of all, it’s a game designed to give a mid-major school national exposure and a chance to boost computer numbers for a potential at-large bid. For the three local schools, none of the games were on TV, and none of our area schools will be sitting on pins and needles come Selection Sunday.
College Corner: The Irrelevant Bracket Busters – continue reading…
 Second-seeded Buffalo State will host No. 7 Cortland in a SUNYAC Quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Sports Arena.
Buffalo State enters the SUNYAC tournament at the No. 2 seed with a 13-5 league mark and is 18-6 overall, riding and eight-game winning streak. Buffalo State’s 18 wins are the most for the school in a single season since 2002-03 when they went 19-9 and captured a SUNYAC Championship. Cortland is the seventh seed, finishing the regular season 10-15 overall and 7-11 in conference. The Red Dragons won four of their last six games to secure a playoff berth.
Buffalo State is 49-35 all-time against Cortland, including a pair of wins over the Red Dragons this season. The Bengals won 83-74 at home in December, and claimed a 70-68 win at Cortland in late January. The last time Buffalo State hosted a playoff game was Feb. 24, 2009, however, and it was Cortland who upset the Bengals, 68-65.
Buffalo State To Host Playoff Game Tuesday – continue reading…
Posted on February 14, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 It all seemed to be going perfectly. Perhaps, a bit too much.
The UB Bulls (15-8, 7-3 MAC) looked invincible, beating teams by an average of 15.3 points per game over an eight game stretch where they went 7-1. The lone loss was a one-point, road slip-up at Western Division front-runner Ball State. UB even smacked conference favorite Kent State by 25.
So Saturday’s trip to Ypsilanti, Mich. to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles; a six-win team one spot above the MAC cellar, should be no contest, right?
Not so.
College Corner: Sky Isn’t Falling On UB Just Yet – continue reading…
Posted on February 14, 2011 by BSD Staff Reports
 A collection of results and summaries from a busy Sunday of local college sports.
Late Run Stops Niagara Basketball At Rider, 61-50
The Niagara men’s basketball team saw its two-game win streak come to an end in a 61-50 defeat to the Rider Broncs on Sunday at Alumni Gym.
Tough shooting and costly turnovers plagued both teams, but it was Niagara (6-21, 3-12 MAAC) that went through a critical rough patch in the latter part of the second half to be swept by Rider (18-9, 10-5 MAAC) for the second straight season.
Local College Sunday Results – continue reading…
Posted on February 14, 2011 by John Hutton/D'Youville College
 D’Youville College men’s volleyball player Jeremy Sajdak (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) earned his first-ever weekly conference award when he was namd United Volleyball Conference Player of the Week. Two hours later Sajdak received his first career national award when he named the by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as their Sport Imports/Division III National Player of the Week.
Sajdak had a match-high 22 kills to go with 12 digs and one service ace in the D’Youville four-set win over #15 SUNY New Paltz February 6th. One day earlier against Bard College, Sajdak went for 19 kills, seven blocks, and six digs in the Spartan’s five-set win.
D’Youville currently sits tied for first in the UVC standings with a 2-0 record, 6-6 overall.
This marks the 10th time a D’Youville College player has been named an AVCA Division III National Player of the Week. The last time a Spartan received this award was the week of March 19, 2007 when John Colosi (Grand Island, NY) won it. The Head coach of D’Youville in his 15th season is John Hutton.
 Buffalo State’s football team is promoting reading in local elementary schools as a community outreach project throughout the month of February.
Several Bengal players and members of the coaching staff kicked off the program recently with a visit to Pine Hill Primary Center in Cheektowaga. The Bengals conducted a brief assembly to stress the importance of reading and then went into the classrooms and read with the children.
“It is such an important project when you look at today’s literacy rates,” said Buffalo State assistant coach Matt Hanhold. “It is a great experience for our players to interact with the kids. We are fortunate to be in a position to potentially have a positive impact on these young learners.”
Buffalo State will continue the outreach program throughout the month.
Posted on February 8, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 Perhaps the Canisius seniors feel their career’s slowly coming to an end. Or maybe, they’re just finally learning to play without Frank Turner.
Whatever it is, the Golden Griffins (12-11, 6-7 MAAC) are winners of four of their last five and playing their best basketball of the season. Even with one of the distinguished five seniors — all of which are working on their masters’ degrees — Rob Goldsberry out due to concussion-like syndrome he received during the Niagara game two weekends ago, the Griffs put on a marvelous defensive display against Marist and St. Peter’s last weekend.
They crunched Marist 75-60 Friday, which included the Griffs forcing 15 turnovers. Then, they beat the second-place Peacocks 59-45 with a defensive effort that saw Canisius hold St. Peter’s to a ridiculous 22.4 shooting percentage from the floor.
College Corner: Griffs Finally Learning Without Turner – continue reading…
Posted on February 1, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 When Reggie Witherspoon asked Byron Mulkey to redshirt his senior season just slightly more than a year ago, perhaps the point guard was discouraged from getting a chance to play on a conference championship team. After all, the Bulls had six other seniors returning to the team last year and had advanced all the way to the MAC conference championship game the year prior.
Mulkey, a former starter for Witherspoon who averaged more than 30 minutes per game as a freshman, had fallen out of favor with the UB head coach at the tail end of 2008-09 and was asked to redshirt last year in favor of John Boyer to start at point guard. Since both were seniors, Witherspoon couldn’t afford to head into 2010-11 without a veteran point guard. Plus, there simply weren’t enough minutes for both players.
Things didn’t work out all that bad. Boyer led the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio and the Bulls won 18 games, reaching the MAC quarterfinals.
College Corner: Mulkey Redshirt Move Pays Off – continue reading…
Posted on February 1, 2011 by BSD Staff Reports
 Senior Kourtney Brown was named MAC East Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday afternoon, following a week where she became UB’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. The honor is the third of the season for Brown and her second in the last three weeks.
Brown became UB’s all-time leading scorer as she averaged 31.0 points and 13.5 rebounds on the week, while adding 4.5 blocks per contest. Brown had 33 points and 16 rebounds in a UB’s win over Central Michigan where she set both school records. She also had six blocks in the win over the Chippewas. Brown followed that up with 29 points and 11 rebounds in Buffalo’s win over Ball State.
In the latest national rankings which were released this afternoon, Brown is currently sixth in the country in scoring, fourth in rebounding, seventh in field goal percentage and 14th in blocked shots. Brown’s 14 double-doubles this season are also tied for 3rd in the nation.
College News & Notes – continue reading…
Posted on January 25, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 Revenge finally came six years later for Reggie Witherspoon and the UB Bulls basketball program.
Certainly the stakes weren’t nearly as high, but the unforgettable overtime loss in the 2005 MAC Championship game to Ohio — where the Bulls blew a 19-point second half lead — might have been finally exorcised when the Bulls won 73-68 over the Bobcats Saturday afternoon in Athens, Ohio.
The Bulls trailed by 18 to start the second half and even though the dramatic comeback win doesn’t get the Bulls an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, it sent a message to the rest of the conference who the best team in the MAC East just may be.
UB riding a three-game winning streak and have forged into a four-way tie for first place in the East division. Byron Mulkey, a fifth-year senior and former walk-on from Niagara-Wheatfield is clearly headed towards first-team all-conference honors, and should get consideration for MAC Player of the Year.
College Corner: Reggie’s Revenge – continue reading…
Posted on January 18, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 The UB Bulls found themselves in dire need of a victory this past Saturday. They sat at 0-2 in MAC play after a pair of frustrating three-point losses and were welcoming in one of arguably the three best teams in the conference in Akron.
It was one of those most overused clichés in sports, a “must-win” game. Even with three-quarters of the conference schedule remaining, UB (9-6, 1-2 MAC) really couldn’t afford to drop to 0-3, a full two games behind four different teams for first place.
Whether or not it was must-win, the Bulls got a much-needed victory with a 73-70 triumph over the Zips, forging an already muddled East division into an extreme version of parody.
Granted, the 2011 MAC season is only three games old, but all six teams in the East division are separated by just one game, something that was expected — to an extent. In fact of the nine games played by MAC East teams, eight games have been decided by single digits. In addition, five of those nine were decided by three points — including all of UB’s games so far — and another game by four.
College Corner: Tough Week For The Local Boys – continue reading…
 Leah Knott scored her first goal of the season, but it wasn’t enough to propel Buffalo State (7-9/3-7) past No. 3-ranked Plattsburgh (12-2-1/8-1), as the Cardinals scored two unanswered to defeat the Bengals, 2-1, in an ECAC West game today at the Ice Arena.
Christine Williams and Kailyn Murray each recorded an assist on Buffalo State’s lone goal.
Megan DiJulio led Plattsburgh with a goal and an assist. Erika Shaubel scored once and Steph Moon chipped in two assists for the Cardinals. Both teams scored in the opening period, with Buffalo State striking first at the 10:59 mark. Plattsburgh answered less than six minutes later, with its first of two power play goals, and added the game-winner in the third period.
Plattsburgh Clips Buffalo State Women’s Hockey, 2-1 – continue reading…
Posted on January 11, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 No NCAA Tournament in Buffalo this year? No problem. In one of the wildest weekends in local college basketball memory, the Big 4 gave us a little taste of March here in the second week of January.
Two multiple-overtime games, two one-point games decided on the last possession, an upset and even the return of arguably the area’s greatest college basketball player ever. All in three days around Western New York.
Friday the Canisius Golden Griffins revived a season long derailed — more on that to come — with a 62-61 over Siena capped by a frantic final few minutes. A game Siena led throughout, Canisius went on a 12-4 run to take a 60-57 lead with two minutes play. After four unanswered Ryan Rossiter points, Gaby Belardo made a runner in the lane with 8.8 seconds to go to give the Griffs the lead. Griffs defensive stud Tomas Vazquez-Simmons blocked an ensuing shot by Rossiter to end a 10-game losing streak to the Saints.
College Corner: What A Wild Weekend! – continue reading…
 Oneonta (4-7/3-1) shot 51-percent from the field and overcame an early 9-0 deficit to defeat visiting Buffalo State (6-4/1-3), 86-70, this afternoon in a SUNYAC contest.
Chris Cartwright led Buffalo State with 27 points. Jake Simmons added 16 points and three steals, and Glenroy Carr (New York/Sweet Home) added 10 points.
After a fast start by Buffalo State, the home team took control and never trailed in the second half. Oneonta owned the glass, outrebounding Buffalo State, 48-28.
Buffalo State will remain on the road tomorrow for a 4 p.m. conference game at Oneonta.
Posted on January 4, 2011 by Chris Winkler
 If last Thursday’s game was any indication, Reggie Witherspoon’s UB Bulls should be right in the thick of a heated conference race come March.
Pretty impressive for a team predicted to finish dead last in the MAC’s Eastern Division by the conference’s coaches. Pretty impressive for a team that lost six seniors, five of which led the team in minutes played.
But for Witherspoon, it’s just another day in the park. The 12th-year head coach has made a habit of exceeding expectations since his first day on campus.
Unfortunately, he’s also made a habit of not breaking through and reaching the NCAA Tournament either. Coming into the season, there was some widespread thought around western New York that perhaps the man solely responsible for making UB basketball even remotely relevant was on the hot seat.
College Corner: Witherspoon Getting It Done – continue reading…
Posted on December 29, 2010 by Christopher Winkler
 If St. Bonaventure basketball coach Mark Schmidt’s Christmas present was a healthy Marquise Simmons, perhaps his New Year’s resolution will be an end to overtime games.
Again the Bonnies went toe-to-toe with a power conference team, this time Virginia Tech — picked to finish second in the Atlantic Coast Conference by their respective coaches — and the Hokies needed an extra session to finally put away the shorthanded Bona squad.
This Bonaventure team that erased an early 21-5 deficit, and a team who played a four-overtime game just five days earlier, had nothing left in the tank after regulation ended. With star forward Andrew Nicholson already cramping for much of the second, Bona lost 76-68.
College Corner: A Holiday Look at the Big Four – continue reading…
Posted on December 21, 2010 by Christopher Winkler
 It had the making of a pretty boring week of local college hoops in western New York. With the fall semester coming to an end at most schools across the country, each of the area Big 4 teams took the week off from having games
Thankfully, it couldn’t have come at a better time for St. Bonaventure.
The Bonnies, fresh off a disappointing loss to Niagara last Saturday, again stole the local headlines with a jaw-dropping, record-breaking quadruple overtime game where the benchless Bonnies outlasted Ohio for a 112-107 victory.
Four of Bona’s starters played in at least 50 of the game’s 60 minutes, while the fifth, Da’Quan Cook fouled out in regulation, leaving a heavy workload for the seldom-used Jake Houseknecht. But that’s it. The rest of the four-person bench logged a whopping 21 minutes combined.
College Corner: All About Nicholson – continue reading…
Posted on December 14, 2010 by Christopher Winkler
 When the St. Bonaventure Bonnies defeated St. John’s last Tuesday night, head coach Mark Schmidt seemed to have landed a signature victory in his fourth year of a strenuous rebuilding process.
The Bonnies were 5-2, had an RPI of 29 and were even seeded No. 11 in CBS’s Bracketology by Jerry Palm later in the week.
Surely, the Bonnies weren’t quite that good, but it was a strong start for a program that hasn’t had a record better than .500 since the 2001-02 season. Heck, they’ve only won 10 or more games twice since then, both coming under Schmidt in each of the last two seasons.
So, with this past Saturday’s contest looming against Big 4 rival Niagara, a team the Bonnies hadn’t beat since 01-02, St. Bonaventure had a chance to keep things rolling at the friendly confines of the Reilly Center. Never mind it was against a Niagara team having its worst start in the 12-year career of Joe Mihalich.
College Hoops Corner: Will The Real Bonnies Please Stand Up – continue reading…
 Women’s hockey player Marissa McMullan was named the Buffalo State Athlete of the Week after helping the Bengals extend their winning-streak to four games with a pair of victories over Plymouth State.
The senior health and wellness major tallied a five-point weekend that included a goal in Friday’s 5-1 win, and two goals and two assists in a 7-1 trouncing on Saturday. McMullan’s 40 career points put her into a tie for fifth on Buffalo State’s all-time scoring list.
Buffalo State (6-6) will take an extended break for the holidays before returning to action in Vermont at the Castleton Tournament on Jan. 7 and 8.
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