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Young Bulls Lead Comeback Against Siena

Calvin Betts

The Bulls played their third straight game without leading scorer and rebounder Yassin Idbihi (Tangier, Morocco/Schloss Hagerhoff) and Siena took advantage of that early in the first half, leading by as many as 15 against Buffalo. The Bulls would fight back, but entered intermission down by eight. In the early moments of the second half, Edwin Ubiles converted on a dunk to give Siena a 12-point lead, but UB answered by holding the Saints scoreless for over seven minutes and rattling off 21 straight points. Sophomore Eric Moore (Dover, NJ/St. Benedict's Prep) began the run with one of his two three-pointers during the stretch, but it was the play of freshmen Calvin Betts (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) and Max Boudreau (Ottawa, Ontario/Champlain St. Lambert) that energized the team. Betts had seven of the 21 points, including a three-pointer to cap off the run, while Boudreau scored four straight points, including the two free throws that tied the game. Siena did not go down quietly and cut the UB lead to as little as three with 53 seconds remaining. UB would hit two foul shots to close the game.

"I thought our guys played pretty hard in the second half," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "I think the big thing was how well we rebounded because we turned the ball over a lot and Siena shot the ball very well in the first half. We just stayed with it and got great contribution from guys off the bench and we are going to need to continue with that."

The Bulls outrebounded their opponent 40-23 in the contest, including by a 25-8 margin in the second half. UB also got a season-best performance of 18 points from the bench.

Eric Moore

UB finished with three players in double figures, including Betts first career double-double. The freshman guard had 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Moore and senior Parnell Smith (Indianapolis, IN/Pike) each added 18 points, which were tops amongst all players. Even when UB was missing its first opportunities at the basket, the Bulls crashed the boards, recording 15 offensive rebounds, compared to just five for Siena. The Bulls then turned that in 17 second chance points. Betts and Smith each pulled down five boards off the offensive end. Sophomore Vadim Fedotov (Munich, Germany/Schloss Hagerhoff) had an efficient day from the floor, scoring eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.

The Bulls will have an extended break now as they do not see action again until Mid-American Conference play on Sunday, Jan. 7. The Bulls travel to Bowling Green for a 2:00 pm contest against the Falcons.