The University at Buffalo men's basketball team's first postseason was a tale of two Philadelphia teams, as they beat Drexel University in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Wednesday before falling to St. Joseph's University Saturday at the Alumni Fieldhouse in Philadelphia.
NIT First Round - Buffalo 81, Drexel 76 (OT)
The Bulls' first postseason game in the history of the program was far from storybook, as the hot-shooting Drexel Dragons walked into Alumni Arena and made six of their 11 first-half 3-point attempts.
Despite taking the floor without starting guard Bashir Mason, who averaged eight points and 2.3 assists per game this season, Drexel guards Jeremiah King and Dominick Mejia lit up the Bulls for five 3-pointers and 25 first-half points, sending the Dragons into the locker room with a 39-37 lead.
"We knew after the Hofstra game that Bashir wouldn't be able to play and I just wanted to provide a spark for the team, and I think I did," Mejia said.
The Bulls were able to stay in the game thanks in large part to the play of junior forward Mario Jordan, who hauled in five rebounds, scored nine points and made a slick backhanded steal of a Drexel cross-court pass as he was falling down.
"Mario radiates energy. He brings so much to the table, and he carried us on his back." said Bulls forward Mark Bortz, who scored 20 points in the contest. "He has so much energy, and it gives me energy."
After a jumper by senior guard Jason Bird knotted the score at 39, more hot shooting by the Dragons and a series of questionable calls including a debatable goaltending call on Bortz put UB in an eight-point hole, the Bulls' largest deficit of the contest.
With both of UB's big men, Bortz and Yassin Idbihi, in foul trouble, sophomore center Brian Andre was thrust into the spotlight, and responded with some quality minutes inside.
"I was trying to find fresh legs somewhere," said Bulls coach Reggie Witherspoon. "We called on Wallace Hall and Andre to give us some minutes."
After UB point guard Turner Battle cut the lead to six, Bortz responded with six straight points, including an authoritative put-back dunk off a missed Daniel Gilbert lay-up. He also blocked three straight shots on one Drexel possession. Calvin Cage added a 3-pointer with 1:21 left to tie the game at 65.
"Old fashioned passion is what got us through (Wednesday night)," Witherspoon said. "These guys just love playing basketball."
King hit one of two free throws with nine seconds left to leave one last possession to UB, trailing by two. As he has all season, Battle delivered in the clutch, driving the length of the court and spinning away from King to hit a lay-up to force overtime.
"Battle stepped up, that's why he's Mid American Conference Player of the Year. Buffalo is a great team, and they sure are battle-tested," said Drexel coach Bruiser Flint.
"He loves having the last shot, and we love him to have it," said Bortz. "I just never expected him to do it 15 times in one season."
The Bulls connected on eight of 10 free throws in the extra session to finish the game with a five-point victory, their largest lead of the night. Following a late night conference call, it was decided that the Bulls would travel to St. Joseph's to play a second round game against a Hawks team that defeated Hofstra 53-44 the same night.
A crowd of 4,032 attended the Bulls' last home game of the season.
NIT Second Round - St. Joseph's 55, Buffalo 50
The Hawks opened with a 13-4 run, led by eight points from Pat Carroll. A combination of physical defense, 25 percent Bulls shooting and a 20-12 rebound advantage in favor of St. Joe's sent UB to the locker room with a mere 15 first half points, trailing by eight.
"Their offense is very quick hitting, so we concentrated on the ball screen," said St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, who earned his 200th win in the contest. "They were 3-for-18 on three's because our guys were very attentive to the scouting report."
UB fought back with aggressive defense from seniors Bird, Bortz and Gilbert, and a Battle drive into the lane with 5:56 to play gave the Bulls their first lead of the game at 38-37.
"What a resilient bunch," said Witherspoon of his seniors. "They fought through the crowd chanting 'It's all over' with 10 minutes to play."
"(UB) has stunning athletic ability," said Martelli. "Their strength reminded me of Xavier from (the Atlantic 10)."
On the next play, Battle made an uncharacteristically poor pass that Hawks guard Dwayne Lee picked off and took the distance for an easy lay-in. Battle responded by hitting Bortz with an alley-oop, the third of four times the Bulls were able to connect on a backside seal play.
Over the final four minutes, Carroll and forward Dwayne Jones were simply too much for the Bulls. Jones had 16 rebounds, 10 points and four blocks on the night, and Carroll hit two low percentage jump shots with Gilbert all over him to finish the night with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting.
Bortz picked up his last foul with less than a minute to go, and walked off the floor to hugs from the entire bench, serenaded with "Thank you, Mark," chants from Bulls fans who made the trek to Philadelphia. At the five-second mark, Witherspoon pulled all his seniors off the floor, and the "Thank you, seniors," chant began.
"When we got to the locker room, I was just stunned that they had played their last game for UB," said an emotional Witherspoon. "When they decided to come here, people said to them, 'You're going where? To do what?' The pressure they had to face from their peers, and to never say, 'I'm going to transfer,' or 'I need the ball more,' is amazing.
"I told them that they'll never, ever be forgotten."
The Bulls finished the season with a 23-10 record, the win total standing as the most in the history of the program. The team returns 11 players next year.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
