Thousands of UB fans made the trek to Cleveland's Gund Arena for the 2005 Mid-American Conference Tournament to support the UB men's basketball team in its bid for a MAC title as well as an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Victorious in their first two games of the Tournament in games against Toledo and Western Michigan, and after advancing further than any other team in the history of the program, the Bulls fell in the championship to Ohio University.
After three days of superb basketball beginning on Thursday, March 10 and continuing through Saturday, March 12, coinciding with any chance of an automatic bid to the "Big Dance" spoiled by the Bobcats, the Bulls were left to the mercy of the NCAA Tournament committee, with the possibility of an at-large berth looming the following day, Selection Sunday.
March 12 - Ohio 80, UB 79
With 0.5 seconds left on the clock, Leon Williams tipped in Jeremy Fears' missed lay-up, and the Ohio University Bobcats narrowly defeated the Bulls in overtime of the championship game of the MAC Tournament.
"It was a hard-fought game, Ohio played well and we played well," said UB head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "They made a play at the end and all the credit should go to them."
UB got off to a quick start, and kept the momentum into the second half, leading by as many as 19 points. The Bobcats, however, were able to respond, mounting a 24-3 scoring run to take a 62-60 lead with just under nine minutes left in regulation.
After trading baskets throughout the remainder of the contest, the Bulls had a chance to take the victory in the closing seconds, but Yassin Idbihi missed a 3-point shot to send the game into overtime.
With Ohio clinging to a 76-72 advantage over the Bulls, Mario Jordan cut the Bobcats' lead to a single basket as he converted a lay-up. Calvin Cage came up with a timely steal and Turner Battle was fouled when he connected on lay-up. After making the free throw, the Bulls gained a narrow 77-76 lead with 55 seconds to go.
An Ohio basket by Sonny Troutman was followed by a Battle jumper that allowed the Bulls to regain the advantage at 79-78 with just 11.5 seconds left.
"That's a shot I've hit a bunch of times," Battle said. "That's my bread-and-butter pull-up, and it went down. We got what we wanted."
On the ensuing Ohio possession, Fears drove the baseline, firing off a shot that rounded the rim for a lengthy amount of time until Williams tipped the ball in to seal the victory for Ohio.
"We have been up on teams before, and we knew that they were going to make their run," Cage said. "We withstood their run, it just comes down to finishing the game out."
Battle led the Bulls offensively with 22 points, six rebounds and eight assists on the night, while Cage threw down 20 points, including 5-for-5 shooting from long range in the first half.
Mark Bortz led Buffalo's rebounding efforts, grabbing a team-high eight boards on the night. The Bulls out-rebounded the Bobcats by a 38-36 margin.
Williams, the MAC Tournament's Most Valuable Player, led the Bobcats with 29 points. The freshman also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds while Fears chipped in with 21 points.
With the loss, the Bulls' NCAA hopes were essentially erased with an at-large bid a possibility, although unlikely.
"They said it was tough to get two teams in the MAC in, but it's a hard-fought conference and we beat up on each other all year long," said Battle. "A lot of teams won that shouldn't have won, so I don't know."
UB 75, Western Michigan 68
A potent second-half offensive surge allowed the Bulls to overcome a 12-point deficit en route to the MAC Tournament semi-final victory.
"A typical MAC throwdown would be the only way to describe it. I'm thankful that our guys kept fighting through the adversity until we could get ourselves into a situation where we could attack little bit," said Witherspoon. "The fact that we could play a lot of guys a lot of minutes helped us win."
UB took its first lead at 51-50 with 11:31 left on the clock on a Roderick Middleton shot that capped off a 14-2 UB scoring run. With the lead changing hands six times over the course of the next four minutes, Daniel Gilbert permanently put the Bulls ahead on a 3-pointer and Battle knocked down a handful of shots from the charity stripe to slam the door on the Broncos.
Five UB players finished the game in double figures in scoring, with Idbihi leading the way with 17 points and seven boards on the night. Gilbert threw in 13 points, while Battle chipped in with 14 points, nine coming off of free-throws. Bortz finished with 12 points while Mario Jordan finished with 10 points.
UB 85, Toledo 72
Taking on the Rockets in the MAC quarterfinals for the second year in a row, the Bulls defeated Toledo in seemingly effortless fashion, advancing to the semifinals for the first time in school history.
"I give credit to our guys for coming in here and fighting the fight," said Witherspoon. "We had great support from our students who made the trip and our guys gave them a lot to cheer about."
Buffalo jumped out to a quick lead, and held off two Toledo runs in the first half. A 14-6 Buffalo scoring run was ignited by Cage, who connected on a 3-pointer to give the Bulls a 34-31 lead, with UB owning a 45-37 lead at the half.
The Bulls led by as many as 15 points in the second half, but the Rockets fought back to close in on the Buffalo lead, and cut the lead to seven points with 11:04 remaining. The Rockets never seriously threatened UB, as the Bulls gained a 10-point lead with 2:27 left in the second stanza, ultimately sealing the 13-point win.
Cage erupted on the offensive side of the game, scoring a season-high 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor and 3-for-5 from long range. Daniel Gilbert led the defensive effort, coming up with five steals and helping to force Toledo into 17 turnovers on the game.
