March Madness or Bust.....A CH2K8 Legacy by Bigjdotcom01

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This is fantastic. The season recaps at the beginning were an incredible read. So easy to follow with a ton of info! I feel as if I haven't missed a beat. Keep it up!

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HEDGES OUT

1/6/12
Amherst, NY (AP) - The Buffalo Bulls completed their walk through today at Alumni Arena in preparation for tomorrow nights game in Kalamazoo against Western Michigan. Noticeable by his absence was sophomore guard Geoff Hedges.

Coach Walberg said after practice that Hedges has a bruised Achilles tendon and is out for tomorrow's game and may be also miss Wednesday's home game with Miami.

Hedges, averaging 12.3 points per game, second on the Bulls, injured the Achilles very early in their loss to Ohio last Saturday. Alassane Taylor will likely start in his place at off guard.

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1/7/12
Kalamazoo, MI (AP) - The Western Michigan Broncos opened up the game by scoring the games first 14 points and led 18-4 early on, yet had to watch as Jim Nardi's three pointer at the buzzer clanged off the back of the iron to hold on for a 71-68 victory over the Buffalo Bulls.

Kinley Devonish knocked down the go ahead three pointer with :25.4 left in regulation time for the Broncos. He had a game high 25 points. But his missed front end of a one and one with 7.7 seconds left set up Buffalo with a chance to tie the game. With no timeouts left, Arnold Pettyjohn rebounded the Devonish miss and passed it to Nardi who dribbled up the court and pulled up for a 24 footer that hit off the back of the iron.

Nardi led Buffalo with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Western Michigan jumped out to a huge early lead in this one as UB started out ice cold, making just 2 of their first 13 shots. But the Bulls defense kept them in it and they slowly chipped away at the Western Michigan lead. A Sheldon Cuffle drive and dunk at the end of the first half cut the Bronco lead to just 31-30 at the break.

The Broncos (9-5, 1-1) opened the second half by hitting three straight three pointers to push their lead back to eight at 40-32. But another UB run, this one a 9-0 run gave Buffalo their first lead of the game at 41-40. The Bulls would extend their lead to as many as five before a 9-0 Bronco run put Western back in front 59-53 with 5:54 left.

Buffalo (8-6, 0-2) would stay close and finally they got their leader, senior Sheldon Cuffle to take over. He made a couple of free throws, Western turned it over and Cuffle scored a conventional three point play to tie the game at 66-66 with 2:11 left. A Jim Nardi bucket tied teh game at 68-68 with :43.9 left before Devonish's big three pointer put the Broncos in front to stay late.

Jaivon Buckey had 17 points and nine boards for the Broncos. Leslie Ruffin scored eight and grabbed a game high 17 boards. Olu Benzel, the MAC's second leading scorer averaging 19.3 points per game, was held to just four points on just 2 of 7 shooting.

The Bulls got 15 points and 12 rebounds from Sheldon Cuffle. Sean Garrison, another freshman walk on, scored a career high 10 points. Ali Mbaye dished out 10 assists for the Bulls.

Buffalo returns home on Thursday to take on Miami(OH) (8-7, 1-1) at Alumni Arena at 7pm.





1/12/12
Amherst, NY (AP) - The struggles continued on Wednesday evening for the University at Buffalo Bulls as they dropped their fourth straight game, an 84-70 loss to Miami of Ohio. Reigning MAC Player of the Year Eddie Aguko dominated for the Redhawks, scoring 22 points and grabbing eight rebounds before fouling out late in the contest.

Miami jumped out to an early 15-8 lead in the first four minutes and would not trail the rest of the way. The closest that Buffalo would get was to within four points a bunch of times throughout the game, but they were not able to get the lead.

Miami (9-7, 2-1) led 36-32 at the half, holing UB to just 1 of 10 from beyond the arc. The Bulls made just 4 of 22 on the night from three point range.

Sheldon Cuffle led Buffalo (8-7, 0-3) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Jim Nardi scored 18 points. Ali Mbaye dished out seven assists.

Miami had plenty of contributors. Rodolfo Prillman scored 15 points and dished out 10 assists. De'Angelo Goodrich scored 14 points and six assists. Borislav Falu pitched in with 13 points and 10 assists.

The Bulls return to action to face Toledo (6-9, 2-1) on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena.





1/15/12
Amherst, NY (AP) - The Buffalo Bulls broke a four game losing streak on Saturday afternoon with an 82-64 romp over the Toledo Rockets at Alumni Arena. Senior Sheldon Cuffle scored a career high 33 points and pulled down a career best 17 boards in the victory.

The Bulls (9-7, 1-3) picked up their first conference win after losses to Ohio, Western Michigan and Miami.

The game was close early on as the teams traded buckets for the first eight minutes or so of action. Buffalo then started pumping the ball down low to Cuffle and Toledo had no answers. Cuffle scored 21 points and had nine rebounds in the first half as Buffalo took a 52-34 lead into the intermission.

The second half was more of the same as Cuffle dominated the Rockets. The Bulls were playing their third consecutive game without sophomore sharpshooter Geoff Hedges who is out with an Achilles injury.

Buffalo held a 41-29 rebounding advantage and outscored the Rockets 56-26 in the paint.

"We really need to pound the ball inside without Hedges in there," said Coach Walberg. "We also need Arnold (Pettyjohn) and Alassane (Taylor) to step up and hit some outside shots for us to keep the double team off of Sheldon."

Toledo (6-10, 2-2) was led by freshman guard Vinnie Pope who pumped in 16 points. Nate Douglas chipped in 15 and sophomore center Ike Kou scored 10 points, grabbed 11 boards and blocked three shots.

The Bulls will hit the road this week for games at Ball State (12-6, 2-2) on Tuesday and at Eastern Michigan (3-11, 1-3) on Saturday.

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1/18/12
Muncie, IN (AP) - The road woes continued for the Buffalo Bulls on Tuesday evening as they dropped a 95-82 decision to Ball State at Worthen Arena. Three Ball State players scored at least 20 points as the Cardinals shot 55% from the floor in the victory.

Buffalo (9-8, 1-4) was energized early on from the return of sophomore guard Geoff Hedges. He would score 11 in the opening half as Buffalo trailed by just one at 39-38 entering halftime. The problem for the Bulls was that Sheldon Cuffle picked up two quick fouls in the first minute of the game and spent the entire half on the bench.

Cuffle, averaging over 18 points per game, would play just 13 minutes before fouling out with two points and four rebounds. His backup, Wes Taybron would leave the game in the first half with an ankle injury. He did not return and the trainer said afterward that Taybron could be out "for quite awhile".

The Cardinals (13-6, 3-2) took this one over after halftime as they opened the second on a 17-6 run. The Bulls went cold from the floor after shooting 57% in the opening half, but still managed to pull to within 64-59 with 8:49 remaining. A 7-0 Ball State run ended any hopes of a Buffalo comeback and sent the Bulls to their fourth conference loss on the season.

"We are disappointed," said Coach Walberg. "We knew that it would take time to turn this program around, but our quick start got some people prematurely excited. We will build this program into a winner, but it may take some time."

Ball State was led by Arthur Holloway (24 points), Aly Garrity (21 points, 10 rebounds), and Tre Pardon (20 points, 8 assists). The trio of juniors accounted for 65 of Ball State's 95 points. and was 9 for 16 from beyond the arc.

Buffalo will return to action on Saturday evening as they head to Ypsilanti to take on Eastern Michigan (3-12, 1-4).





1/21/12
Ypsilanti, MI (AP) - The Buffalo Bulls picked up their first road win in MAC play on Saturday evening with a 69-57 victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti. Walk on freshman Ali Mbaye led the way for the Bulls with a career high 16 points and seven assists.

The game was back and forth for most of the opening half before back to back three pointers from Alassane Taylor and Arnold Pettyjohn gave Buffalo a 26-18 lead. Geoff Hedges sank a three pointer at the buzzer, his only points of the half, to give the Bulls a 33-26 lead at the break.

The Bulls (10-8, 2-4) would stretch their lead to 45-35 early in the second half, only to see teh Eagles claw back to within four at 49-45 with 7:01 left. Ali Mbaye then keyed an 11-4 run to put the game away when he hit back-to-back treys. He made all four of his shots from beyond the arc in the contest.

Eastern Michigan (3-13, 1-5) would never get closer than six the rest of the way. They were led by senior Luol Payton who scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Buffalo got a double-double from Sheldon Cuffle who scored 10 and pulled down 16 boards. Jim Nardi scored nine and grabbed 11 boards. Freshman George Bryant scored 11 and grabbed six rebounds.

The Bulls will return home to face Bowling Green (7-11, 4-2) on Wednesday evening at Alumni Arena.





1/25/12
Amherst, NY (AP) - The Buffalo Bulls blew a 27 point second half lead on Wednesday evening as they were stunned at Alumni Arena 69-63 by the Bowling Green Falcons. The Falcons closed the game on 51-18 run over the final 14 minutes to pull off the improbable victory.

Buffalo (10-9, 2-5) dominated the opening half, building a 39-16 lead at the break. Sheldon Cuffle scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Geoff Hedges scored 11 points in the opening half.

The Bulls would build their lead to 45-18 with 14:01 left in regulation when Louis Orr, Bowling Green's coach called a timeout. Coach Walberg then emptied his bench.

The Falcons (8-11, 5-2) came to life and caught fire. They went on a 29-8 run to cut Buffalo's lead to 53-47 with still 5:48 left. The Bulls could do little to stop the run and when freshman forward J.B. Berrelleca dunked over Sheldon Cuffle with 2:15 left in regulation, the Falcons took their first lead on the night.

Geoff Hedges knocked down a three pointer from the corner to put the Bulls back up with :59.7 left. Justin Sofman answered for the Falcons, knocking down a three from the top of the key to put Bowling Green up for good with :35.7 left. They would make four of six free throws down in the final seconds to seal it and cap off the win.

"Speechless," said Coach Walberg after. "We just completely fell apart. There is no excuse for that tonight. But we need to put it behind us and focus on our next game and hope that we can improve."

Bowling Green was led by freshman J.B. Berrelleca's career high 16 points and 12 rebounds. Dusty Nystrom chipped in with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulls got a game high 17 points from Geoff Hedges and a monster effort from Sheldon Cuffle who scored 16 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.

The Bulls will face Kent State (13-6, 4-3) on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena.





1/28/12
Amherst, NY (AP) - The Buffalo Bulls lost 84-74 to the Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena in a nationally televised game, 84-74. Five Golden Flashes scored in double figures as the balanced attack was too much for the Bulls.

The teams traded the lead 11 times in the first half with Kent State grabbing a 32-31 halftime lead.

The second half was more of the same until Kent State went on a 10-0 run to grab a 56-50 lead with 6:48 left. Buffalo would never regain the lead and the closest that they got was 72-69 with 1:13 left before it turned into a parade to the free throw line.

Hyman Mills scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Kent State. Andre Blackshear scored 14, Kerwin Clement, Gaston Babcock, and Mathew Messy also each scored 13 for the Flashes.

Buffalo (10-10, 2-6) was led by senior Arnold Pettyjohn who scored a career high 22 points. Jim Nardi chipped in with 17 points and seven boards. Sheldon Cuffle scored 12 and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Bulls have now dropped seven of their last nine games after starting out the season (8-3).

The Bulls will now hit the road to face the conference leading Akron Zips (14-6, 8-0) on Wednesday.