UB's rally falls a little short

By Budd Bailey

A regulation college basketball game only lasts 40 minutes. Yet it can take far less than that to hit a decisive stretch.

Ask the University at Buffalo men’s team about that.

The Bulls head a 16-15 lead over Kent State after 10 minutes, but the Golden Flashes went on a 17-4 run over the next five minutes. That proved decisive, as Buffalo dropped a 87-81 decision in Alumni Arena.

This one figured to be a good test for the Bulls, as Kent State has usually been near the top of the Mid-American Conference standings over the past few years. Both teams came into the game with 3-1 records in MAC play. UB proved it could play with the Flashes, but moral victories don’t matter too much.

“We could beat anybody,” coach George Halcovage said. “We beat DePaul at DePaul – Big East team. …. We’ve not afraid to play anybody, but we’ve got to understand that we have to set the tone for 40 minutes. We can’t let the foot off the gas. We let the foot off the gas at the end of the first half. We’ve got to learn from that. We’ve got to be hungry.”

In the opening 20 minutes, the Golden Flashes showed plenty of athletic ability and ball movement in taking a 44-30 lead. Daniel Freitag had nine points in the first half for UB, but he didn’t have a great deal of help on offense. As the team’s leading scorer, he took it upon himself to be more aggressive in trying to score in the second half.

“Each night, if our offense is struggling, there’s a guy who can step up,” Freitag said. “Today was my time. We’ve had different guys in every game. We’ve seen Ryan (Sabol) do it, we’ve seen (Angelo) Brizzi do it, we’ve seen Tim (Oboh) lately do it. Tonight was my time to do it. It’s comforting to know we have a multitude of people who can do exactly that.”

The guard ran off 16 points in the first seven minutes of the second half. Freitag went on to finish with 33 points and seven assists on the night. The rest of the team started to have a little more room to operate, and the points followed. The Bulls trailed by 70-67 with 4:53 left, so it was anyone’s game.

“I think there was a different energy,” Sabol said. “I think that when we put ourselves in that spot, we had a sense of desperation and start playing harder. We have to play with that sense of desperation no matter what the score is – up, close game.”

Kent State, however, responded when it was necessary with some clutch baskets down the stretch. It looked as if it received a big break with a little less than a minute to go, when Morgan Safford of the Flashes seemed to lead with his elbow on a drive to the lane – but was sent to the foul line instead of drawing a charge.

When another call went against UB 20 seconds later, Halcovage received a birthday “present” from the officials in the form of a technical foul. That essentially ended UB’s comeback hopes. The newly-40-year-old coach didn’t blame the men in stripes for the game’s outcome.

“It’s the toughest job to do,” Halcovage said. “I give those guys credit. Referees have the toughest job in the gym. You don’t want to have the game come down to one bang-bang play. That what we did, put ourselves in the hole.”

He was more upset over the rebounding numbers. Kent State had a 46-29 edge on the boards, with Delrecco Gillespie leading the way with 15 of them (to go with 20 points). Two other Flashes were in double digits in rebounds.

Ryan Sabol of UB scored eight points in the final three minutes to finish the game with 16. Tim Oboh added 13.

The situation now gets a bit tougher for the Bulls. They must travel to Miami on Saturday afternoon to play the RedHawks – who improved to 18-0 with a blowout win over Central Michigan on Tuesday night. Not too many teams are undefeated at this time of year, especially in the MAC.

“They are a great team,” Halcovage said. “They are put together well, they play together.”

Freitag says he’s looking forward to that challenge. Then again, after doing a lot of sitting last year at Wisconsin, he has no problems getting excited for any game on the schedule.  

“Honestly, I look at every single game and get excited,” he said. “I didn’t play at all last year, so just to play is super-exciting. I enjoy practice and enjoy games.”

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