the Bulls are ON!!

the college basketball season is on, and the UB Bulls are off to a great home start! we played our first home game last night against Fairleigh Dickinson at the Alumni Arena on campus.. and the Bulls this season are showing all the hallmarks of a winning-quality team.. winning without playing their best, the confidence and swagger, the hard work.. yes, we should probably show why we're being tipped as conference champions this year! wooha!

the game itself was a nail-biter.. the Bulls shooting was a bit cold, drives were non-existent, and we had just a three point lead going into halftime. that got stretched to eight points, but FDU showed some great resolve in coming back and taking the lead themselves on some crucial plays. suddenly it all started unravelling for the Bulls.. and with 47 sec on the clock, we were down seven, and dead and buried, with ten team fouls already on the board. then started the comeback.. FDU missed a couple of free, throws danny gilbert picked up the rebound and set up mark bortz for an alley-oop dunk that should have smashed the glass!! 24 seconds to go..

turner battle then fouled, and in the ensuing din and raucous crowd noise, again FDU missed their free throws! turner picked up the rebound and on a full court drive made a jumper.. three points behind, with 12 seconds on the clock, and gilbert was fouled on a three-point attempt.. three free-shots! by the now the whole arena was standing, urging on the boys, and all got deathly silent when he missed the first shot. the second one was good, and two points down, he intentionally missed the third to gain the rebound, and turner set bortz up for yet another monster dunk to tie the game with 1.4 seconds left!

by now the whole momentum was with the Bulls, and we easily swept them aside on first overtime to win 87-84! yeeha!! the Mighty Maniacs, the UB Bulls fan club, was there in force, and we never gave up on the team, even with time running down and us so far behind, and the boys rewarded us with not giving up the fight and coming back to whoop FDU!! good work boys! :-))

Notes: Turner Battle is the team leader and best player too.. showing NBA promise definitely. Calvin Cage is the shooter from downtown, with his own personal fan club - 'Calvin's Crazies'!! Mario Jordan is the laid back slick 'playa'! Mark Bortz is big, not too smart, and the quintessential frat boy! ;-) he's gonna dunk me with all his 6'10" if he ever reads this!! he also has his own fan following, mostly sorority girls!! Yassin Idbihi is the exotic Moroccan, French parents, and grew up in Germany! Roderick Middleton is your stable team player. Jason Bird and Danny Gilbert are trey-shooting defensive giants, with amazing work rate. and finally, it's coach Reggie Witherspoon, one of the most popular faces on campus, loved by all for his commitment and dedication, in turning the UB basketball program from perennial losers to conference beaters in just five years. Yes, this is the team that is taking us to cleveland for the MAC conference finals come february!